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A DISCOURSE

JLIBERTY OF PROPHESYING

^' SHOWING

THE UNREASONABLENESS OF PRESCRIBING
TO OTHER MEN'S FAITH ;

• AND THK

J-nfquftii of ^^craecutfrtfl JDlSzrln^ ©pfnfons.

By JEREMY TAYLOR, D.D.

.Ciaplain in Ordinary to King Charles the First, and some time
Lord Bishop of Down and Connor.

WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY,

BY THE
REV. K, CATTERMOLE, B. D.

STEREOTYPED AND FITBLISHED BY DCFF GREEN.

1S34.

/• /

TO THE LONDON" EDITiON.

No other couritry is so rich as England in Sacred Lite<
"MATURE. Her greatest poets and philosophers have shared
'Aith her divines, in setting forth and establishing the trutlis
•of Revelation ; whiie her divines have been disting-uished
^like ky the copiousness and the depth of their learning.
The soundness of character thus given to the standard The
•ology of England has, through a variety of circumstances,
been happily prevented from degeneratinsc into the harshness
of scholasticism ; and thus the whole series of our 'Sacred
Classjics' is a wjfU of truth and consolation, as open to the
:genaral reader as to the most learned student.

-But though several detached works, in different shapes,
and -under many varieties of price, have been of late brought
'into circulation, no attempt has yet been made to form the
inoblest productions of our theological writers into a uniform
Library of Divinity, and to present the collection to the
public at such a price, that he who purchases at present the
cheapest of ephemeral publications, may, for the same money,
possess himself of works which cannot fail to afford him
guidance and support in the highest exercise of his faculties,
and under every vicissitude of life. — It is the desire of the
proprietor, in undertaking 'The Cabinet Library of
Divinity,' to effect this important object.

It is intended to comprise in this collection, the best works
of all the most celebrated writers, vvhose labors have been
devoted to the elucidation and practical enforcement of the
principles of revealed truth, whether in their application to
the immortal interests of individuals, or the order and well-
being of society. Treatises on the Doctrines, Morality,
and Evidences of Christianity, which have received the
permanent stamp of gen-eral approbation; — select Sermons
of the most eminent Divines ; — the most interesting speci-
mens of Religious Biography ; — and the choicest exam

6 ADVERTISEMENT.

pies of Devotional and Sacred Poetry, will succeed
each other in the onier which may be judged most conducive
to the benefit and gratification of the reader.

To the productions of each author, or to each separate
production, as the case may seem to require, will be prefixed
an Introductory Essay, pointing out their characteristic
excellencies ; and, in some instances, comprehending a bio-
graphical sketch of the author, with remarks on the state of
religion in his times.

This being the design of the publication, the first volume
of which is now submitted to the public, it will perhaps be
considered almost unnecessary to suggest to what class of
readers in particular such a work must be a desideratum : —
that which is so unquestionably valuable, cannot, it is be-
lieved, but prove acceptable to all. It is considered, however,
t!iat those guardians and instructors of our youth, who are
desirous of recommending a course of serious reading, in
preference to the desultory, unsatisfactory, and often per-
nicious practice, of skjmraing over the light miscellaneous
]>roductions of the day, cannot ^\\e a more judicious proof
of their regard, than by presenting their young friends wilh
a series of vokimes of this nature. Its attractive form will
interest their tastes, while its substantial worth will scarcely
fail to y)roduce a permanently beneficial impression upon
their intellectual and moral faculties. To readers of more
mature years, few words are needed to recommend the
writings of men who v^^ere the brightest ornaments of the
Protestant Church in the days in wdiich they lived, and the
])roductions of whose pens liave stood the test of ages, and
have been hallowed by time. To them, a reprint of authors,
of whom many are known to the present generation onl}^
through the recommendation of those scholars and divines,
who, m our times, have had taste and leisure to become fa-
miliar with the wealth of the best periods of our theological
literature, and whose works have, in many instances, been so
scarce as to preclude the possibility of their procuring a copy
for themselves, must be a source of satisfaction and delight : —
the proprietor, therefore, fearlessly issues this, the first of a
numerous series, confident that he has neither mistaken the
wants of the age, nor anticipated the time when such a pub-
lication would be deemed both useful and attractive.

To those Dignitaries of the CHiurch, as also to those Divines
and JMinisters by whom he has been honored with the per-
mission of adding their names as patrons of the uudertakingn
his m.ost grateful acknowledgments are due, and are here
most respectfully tendered.

Janvary 1, 18-'>3.

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

The measure of freedom enjoyed in a country
will always be in proportion to the diffusion of
Icnowledge and virtue among the people. In the
latter ages, therefore, of the degenerate Roman
empire, over which the mists of ignorance were
settling with increasing density, and from which
public virtue had fled, all remains of liberty be-
came extinct. It was only by the disruption and
removal of that gigantic despotism, and by the
introduction of governments, in its place, with in-
stitutions which, though yet in all the rudeness of
inflmcy, were in their nature more favorable to
tJie development of the intellectual, and, in a still
higlier degree, of the moral powers of man, that a
way could be prepared for the future admission of
every free agent to the full exercise of his natural
rights. To the gradual establishment of a national
church, and to the existence of a feudal nobility,
in each of the kingdoms formed by tlie Gotliic and
Celtic races, we owe our present enjoyment of
what we justly deem the birth-right of morrd and
7

8 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

civilized human beings. Those ennobling senti-
ments which were cultivated bj that order of the
community, with whom alone the light of learning
and science remained, found their way by little and
little unto the bosoms of a bolder and more active
and powerful class. The improvement of the
vassal population, resulting from the humanizing
influence of the clergy and the nobles, was assis-
ted by many concurring circumstances, such as
the increase of commerce, the rise of independent
republics, and the foundation of the great schools
and universities. As the number of those increased
who rose to the mental and moral dignity of free
men, so did the number of those who sought and
acquired a share of the rights of free men. These
might be but ill understood, and find as yet no
clear expounders, but they began at least to be
practically vindicated. The strong holds of arbi-
trary power were by degrees undermined, and
limits to irresponsible authority rose up in all
directions ; until, at length, the grand and anima-
ting spectacle presented itself, of a free and
enlightened people, enjoying the bounties of Provi-
dence, and cultivating the best faculties of their
being. Finally, law placed its sanction upon what
intelligence and virtue had achieved ; and that
freedom in which the existing generation rejoiced,
was secured by solemn enactments to poste-
rity.

Such was the progress of civil freedom, nor was

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 9

the growth of religious liberty the result of other
causes. In a country, where religion is purely a
political engine, as was the case in pagan Rome,
toleration is impossible, because under such circum-
stances treason and nonconformity are identical.
Notwithstanding the boasted indulgence of the em-
pire, in this respect, towards conquered nations,
and the ease with which the popular superstition
sat upon the powerful and intelligent classes, how
far the Romans were from allowing liberty of
conscience, sufficiently appears in the numerous
and terrible persecutions by which they strove to
exterminate the professors of that religion which
even their great men have branded as " a new and
mischievous superstition."

As long as the Christian church continued un-
corrupted, the utmost forbearance and mildness
towards the professors of heretical opinions, con-
sistent with public order, appear to have prevailed.
With corruption came in persecution. The first
example of intolerance, on the part of Christians
towards each other, appeared in the distractions
occasioned by the foUow^ers of Arius, and by the
other powerful sects which rose about the same
time, or not long afterwards. But whatever seve-
rities were recommended and put in practice by
these schismatics, by the Iconoclasts, at a later
period, or by the church, in its angry endeavors
to crush the swarms of heresies by which its peace
was assailed, the rage of persecution among Chris-

10 THE SACRED. CLASSICS.

tians, in those early times, always stopped short
of the punishment of death.

That during the long interval from the seventh
to the thirteenth century, while, in the eastern
empire, religious disputes were carried on with
the utmost fierceness and cruelty, we find com-
paratively few instances of extreme intolerance
displayed by the church of Rome, may be accoun-
ted for without supposing the prevalence of a
spirit of Christian forbearance, which is not to be
met with even in the history of far more enlight-
ened periods. vSuch were the power of the popedom
and the feebleness and infrequency of resistance
to its dictates, that we need not wonder if the
successors of St. Peter were not often to be roused
from the slumbers of sensual enjoyment, or with-
drawn from the pursuits of ambition, and the con-
test with kings and emperors for temporal domin-
ion, by controversies about doctrines, with obscure
and unheeded speculatists. It was not till more
decided indications of returning intellectual light
presaged danger to the existence of that usurped
ecclesiastical tyranny, that it thought proper to
put forth its energies for the destruction of those
whom it regarded as heretics. Scotus Erigena in
the ninth century, and Berengarius in the eleventh
if not suffered to escape uninjured, were at least
permitted to live, though chargeable with as bold
invasions of the domains of established corruption,
as those which, at a later day, were the excuse

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 11

for deluging the valleys of the Alps with the blood
of the Vaudois, and crowding the statue-books of
England witli cruel and sanguinary laws, — which
filled our dungeons wdth the persecuted followers
of Wickliffe, and strewed Smithfield with the ashes
of the martyrs.

It is a favorite but iniquitous proceeding of
party writers, when it is their object to blacken the
memory of those who maintained opinions adverse
to their own, to charge upon individuals the faults
and failings which they partook, and could not
but partake, in common with their age. True it
is, that it never occurred to the first reformers to
generalize upon the subject of a free choice in reli-
gion ; most surprising would the fact have been if
it had. This was left for a subsequent generation ;
it could not have been expected of them, nor was
it consistent with the part assigned them. While
we duly reverence those venerable men, we deem
it no disparagement to them, as partakers of the
imperfections of humanity, to say, that had they
had leisure to do so — had they contended ex-
pressly for a general principle, rather than for a
direct personal claim, their efforts would in all
probability have proved far less vigorous and
effectual. But, in truth, the general principle was
implied in the fact of the deliverance of themselves
and their country, on the ground of riglit, from the
oppressive tyranny of Rome. The stride that was
made towards universal freedom of conscience by

12 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

Cranmer, and the great and good men who were
associated with him, was actually larger than the
^tate of knowledge and morality among the people
could bear. If they are not to be compared for
a wise liberality, on this point, with the authors
and legislators of the eighteenth century, jet in
how brilliant relief do their sentiments as well as
their conduct stand out, in the light of humanity
and tolerance, when we compare them with their
opponents, even of the same period — when we place
Ridley, Cranmer, and Hooper by the side, not of
the bitter persecutors Gardiner and Bonner, but
of the learned Warham, the accomplished Tonstal,
and the gifted Sir Thomas More. Public opinion
afterwards followed, longo sed mtervallo. Little
would the people have prized or understood an
enlarged system of toleration, who stumbling in all
the blindness of inveterate popery, flung back with
brutal contempt in the faces of the reformers, the
inestimable boon they had secured for them, and
more than once rushed into rebellion in favor of
an unmitigated return to the oppressions and the
mummeries that had beguiled their forefathers —
to masses, pilgrimages, prayers in an unknown
tongue, and the use of images. Hence the ma
jority hailed with delight the national relapse
into all the miseries of the worst times of popery,
in Mary's reign.

The lapse of a century of strife between the
church of England and the parties who now—

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 13

whether in consequence of men's natural unrea-
sonableness and discontent with the good tliey
possess, or of the imperfect state in which the work
of reformation had been left, — rose into opposi-
tion to her doctrines, discipline, and immunities,
was necessary to prepare the national mind for
the efi'ectual agitation of tiiis great question. If
the church, in the prosperous days of Elizabeth
and James, maintained her prerogatives against
the Puritans with the severity of a parent assailed
by the unreasonable clamors of rebellious children,
these latter, however bitterly they complained of
the hardship of their own position, never denied,
upon general principles, the right of the former to
persecute ; ' their ardor for toleration was nothing
more than impatience of individual suffering.' In
the multiplication of sects tiiat took place during
the latter part of that period, and in the reign of
the unhappy Charles, the animosity of each to-
wards every other, equalled that which all in
common bore towards the establishment. Each
strove for the supremacy of its own opinions —
none for an equal charitable tolerance of all specu-
lative tenets alike; and when the most numerous
and powerful of the religious factions opposed to
the Church of England, at last obtained the ascend-
ancy, its members proved too clearly by their
arrogance and persecuting spirit how little effect
calamity, which softens and corrects the passions
of individuals, has in diminishing the hatreds and
2

14 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

smoothing the asperities of sects and parties. Still
the anarchy of the latter years of King Charles,
was the chaos in which the light of religious liberty
was engendered. Here and there a calmer and
wiser spirit began to perceive, that the only pros-
pect of peace lay in the possibility of persuading
each to relinquish some portion of its individual
claims, in favor of the whole. Several smaller
publications, setting forth the justice and advan-
tages of this scheme, had already emanated from
different quarters, (and especially from among the
followers of Robert Brown,) when the church, now
the victim of those severities which in her hour
of prosperity she, it must be confessed, had not
scrupled to exercise, and more susceptible, as it
seems, of the lessons of adversity, than some of
those communities who had felt it longer, raised a
decisive and majestic voice in the great cause of
religious toleration.

The celebrated treatise on the Liberty of
PRorHESYiNG, is scarccly more valuable for the
consummate ability with which it handles this
important subject, than it is interesting for the
immediate circumstances under which it was pro-
duced, and striking as the production of the friend
of Laud, and the favorite chaplain of the unfortu-
nate Charles. The learning and genius of Taylor
obtained for him, about the year 1633, soon after
he had taken his degree of M. A. at Cambridge,

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 15

the favorable notice of that primate, to whom the
bitterest enemies of his person and his memory
could never refuse the praise of an accurate dis-
cerner of merit, and a munificent patron of learn-
ing. Discovering in the youthful divine talents
capable of raising him above the sphere of a mere
preacher, however popular or useful, Laud re-
moved him to Oxford, and placed him in Univer-
sity College, in order that he might carry on and
complete his studies without interruption. Of this
society he became a fellow, in the year 1656. In
the great national struggle which followed, Taylor
attached himself devotedly, from taste and princi-
ple as well as gratitude and regard, to the cause
of tlie monarchy and the hierarchy. He was
among the first to join the king at Oxford ; he
afterwards attended the royal army in his capa-
city as chaplain ; and on tlie final ruin of the king's
cause, he shared in the calamities which now fell
upon the loyal part of the nation.

Deprived of his preferment, he retired into
Wales, and having no other resource, engaged, for
the support of his family, in the irksome labors
of a school, at a place called Newton Hall, in
Carmarthenshire. The remoteness of his retreat,
however, did not screen him from molestation : he
was several times imprisoned, and only released
throuoh the g-enerous exertions of his friends, and
by the connivance of some persons of influence

16 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

among the ruling party. " But tliat he" (writes
the eloquent divine, in the Epistle Dedicatory,
originally prefixed to the present Treatise*) " who
stilleth the raging of the sea, and the noise of his
waves, and the madness of his people, had pro-
vided a plank for me, I had been lost to all the
opportunities of content or study. But I know
not whether I have been more preserved by the
courtesies of my friends, or the gentleness and
mercies of a noble enemy." Who the noble
enemy alluded to was, is not known ; but the
friends who chiefly consoled the period of his
adversity — and he had domestic sorrows to dis-
tress him, besides the loss of property and prefer-
ment— were the Earl of Carbery and Ids lad}^,
whose residence was at Golden Grove, in Taylor's
neighborhood. In the bosom of this family he
continued for many years to enjoy the delights of
friendship, and the comfort of administering the
rites of religion, according to the prescribed forms
of the national church ; it was here also that many
of his most admirable works were composed,
particularly the Life of Christ, the most popular,

* As this Dedication is very long, and consists chiofly of
a recapitulation of the arguments brought forward in the
Treatise itself, it had been deemed consistent with tlie design
of the present publication to omit it. Some of the facts
adduced in it, however, have been transferred to the present
essay, and several of the most interesting passages preserved
to the reader in the quotations.

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. IT

and, in many respects, the noblest of his writings,
the Holy Living and Dying, and the greater part
of his Sermons. It was, however, in all the fresh-
ness of recent affliction, while poverty and appre-
hension reigned within his household, and the
crash of the falling throne and broken altar was
loud without, deprived of books and leisure, that
the work was written, of the design of which it
now remains to give some account — a work truly
wonderful, as having received its birth under such
untoward circumstances, and which demonstrates
how little was required by its accomplished author
for the production of the noblest results of literary
exertion, besides his own powerful intellect, and
the unrivaled stores of secular and ecclesiastical
learning with which his memory was furnished.

The general principle advanced in the Liberty
OF Prophesying, is this : that as truth on all
minor dogmas of religion is uncertain, and of
small moment in its bearings upon the conduct of
men, while peace and charity are things of un-
doubted certainty and importance, our desire to
obtain the former ouglit to yield to the necessity of
securing the latter ; and every one, for the gootl
of the community at large, ought to tolerate the
differences of all others, while in turn he receives
toleration for his own. But as it is indispensable
somewhere to draw the line — as some standard of
truth must be acknowledged, unless men were to
ru^^h into boundless anarchy, or 'ink into mere

18 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

indifference, of opinion, he proposes the confession
of the apostles' creed, as the test of orthodoxy,
and condition of union and communion anions:
Christians.

A test so liberal and comprehensive, though we
might not perhaps have expected to meet with its
advocate in one conversant in that sphere of arbi-
U'SLvy prerogative, to which the author had so long
been attached, was worthy of the pure and bene-
volent nature of Jeremy Taylor, and naturally
enough suggested by the peculiar circumstances
under which this splendid treatise was composed :
that Taylor's mind was utterly averse from all
harshness in the exercise of authority— that his
temper was not only tolerant but tender towards
all men, is sufficiently apparent to all who are in
any degree acquainted with his moral and prac-
tical writings; yet, had he still continued the
admired orator of an arbitrary court, and the
caressed favorite of a prelate whom the coarse
irritations of factious religionists, as much as his
own disposition and principles, hurried into harsh
and cruel measures, it is little likely the world
had ever beheld the Liberty of Prophesying.
From the melancholy experience of the past, the
present miserable wreck of all which he regarded
as most dear and venerable, and the gloomy
uncertainty which over hung the future, he sought
refuge in the depths of his own generous pity for
the Vv'eaknosses and errors, and in his respect for

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 19

the rights, of his fellow-citizens. " I was deter-
mined," he says, "by the consideration of the
present distemperatures and necessities, by my
own thoughts, by the questions and scruples, the
sects and names, the interests and animosities
which at this day, and for some years past, liave
exercised and disquieted Christendom; — being
very much displeased that so many opinions and
new doctrines are commenced among us, but
more troubled that every man that hath an opin-
ion, thinks his own and other men's salvation is
concerned in its maintenance, but most of all that
men should be persecuted and afflicted for dis-
agreeing in such opinions which they cannot with
sufficient grounds obtrude upon others necessarily,
because they cannot propound tliem infallibly, and
liave no warrant of Scripture to do so."

The person of the king had now been transfer-
red from the custody of the parliamentary commis-
sioners to that of Cromwell and the army — from
the hands, that is to say, of the most, to those of
the least intolerant, of the great sectarian parties ;
and he was accordingly treated with more indul-
gence and respect. The author of the Liberty
OF Prophesying, therefore, may have cherished a
hope of promoting an accommodation between
the captive sovereign and his victorious subjects,
which, however slender, sufficed to rouse the zeal
of a mind equally imbued with loyalty to his king
and regard for the happiness of his fellow-subjects.

20 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

Taylor's experience of the temper of the parties
must indeed have forbidden the indulgence of any
very sanguine expectation, as to the effect of his
arguments in softening their mutual animosities
and dislikes. On the part of the king, scarcely
any thing remained to be conceded ; while, had
further concession been in his power, such a rooted
opinion prevailed of Charles's insincerity in his
ensajrements, as must have rendered a cordial
reconciliation impossible. On the other hand, the
arrogance of the Presbyterians, and the extent of
their demands, had increased in proportion to their
success; nor did the indignation with which they
legardcd the host of wild sects, which, encouraged
by their example, had now grown to be thorns in
their sides, divert any portion of their settled lia-
tred from the royalists and episcopalians. The
fluctuations of Taylor's own mind, between his
earnest desire to do something towards promoting
the peace of the king and the safety of the country,
and the fears he could not conceal, lest the mild
arguments of enliglitencd moderation sliould be
utterly thrown away amid the raging factions of
the time, are thus powerfully expressed in the
Dedication already quoted: "However," says he,
'Hliere are some exterminating spirits who think.
God to delight in human sacrifices, — yet if they
were capable of cool and tame liomilies, or would
liear men of other opinions give a quiet account
witlinut invincible resolutions never to alter their

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 21

persuasions, I am very much persuaded it would
not be very hard to dispute such men into mercies,
and compliances, and tolerations mutual; such, I
say, who are zealous for Jesus Christ; than whose
doctrine never was any thing more merciful and
humane, whose lessons were softer than nard, or
the juice of the Candian olive. Upon the first
apprehension, I designed a discourse to this pur-
pose, with as much greediness as if I had thought
it possible with my argun:ients to have persuaded
the rough and hard-handed soldiers to have dis-
banded presently; for I had often thought of the
prophecy, that, in the Gospel, Our sivords shall be
turned into 'ploughshares^ and our s]}ears into pru-
ning-hooks ; I knew that no tittle spoken by God's
Spirit could return unperformed and ineffectual;
and I was certain, that such was the excellency
of Christ's doctrine, that if man would obey it
Christians should never war one against the other.
In the mean time, I considered not, that it was
predlctio concilii, non evcntus, till I saw what men
were now doing, and ever had done, since the
heats and primitive fervors did cool, and the love
of interests swelled higher than the love of Chris-
tianity; but then on the other side, I began to
fear that whatever I could say would be as in-
effectual as it would be unreasonable; for if
those excellent words which our blessed Master
spake, could not charm the tumult of our
spirits, I had little reason to hope that one of

22 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the meanest and most ignorant of his servants
could advance the end of that which he calls his
great, and his old, and his new commandments,
so w^ell as the excellency of his own Spirit and
discourses could. And yet since He M^ho knew
every event of things, and the success and efficacy
of every doctrine, and that very much of it to most
men and all of it to some men would be ineffec-
tual, yet was pleased to consign our duty that it
miglit be a direction to them that would, and a
conviction and testimony against them that would
not obey, I thought it might not misbecome my
duty and endeavors, to plead for peace, and
charity, and forgiveness, and permissions mutual,
although I had reason to believe that such is the
iniquity of men, and they so indisposed to receive
such impresses, that I had as good plough the
sands or till the air, as persuade such doctrines,
which destroy men's interests, and serve no end
but the great end of a happy eternity and what is
in order to it. But because the events of things
are in God's disposition, and I knew them not;
and because, if I had known my good purposes
would be totally ineffectual as to others, yet my
own designation and purposes would be of advan-
tage to myself, who might from God's mercy
expect the retribution which he is pleased to
promise to all pious intendments; I resolved to
encounter with all objections."

To us it appears from the general tone of lliis

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 23

great work, that although its gifted author was
willing to take advanta":e of the least chance that
remained of bringing back the minds of the lead-
ing persons, on all sides, to a friendly and chari-
table temper, yet his real hope of a termination to
the sufferings and distractions which the nation
labored under, rather reposed upon the good
sense and right feeling of the people, generally ;
and that to them it is therefore to be regarded as
mainly addressed. Those religious disputes,
which had nearly brought the country to the brink
of ruin, had no reference to matters essential to
salvation, but were confined to points indifferent
or of secondary moment. ''For my own particu-
lar," he exclaims, **I cannot but expect, that God
in his justice should enlarge the bounds of the
Turkish empire, or some other way punish Chris-
tians, by reason of their pertinacious disputing
about things unnecessary, undeterminable, and
unprofitable, and for their hating and persecuting
their brethren, which should be as dear to them
as their own lives, for not consenting to one
another's follies and senseless vanities. And in
these trifles and impertinences men are curiously
busy, while they neglect those glorious precepts of
Christianity and holy life, which are the glories
of our religion, and would enable us to a happy
eternity." The impropriety of such disputes there-
fore, and the necessity of mutual forbearance in
regard to the points in question, it is his object to

24 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

make apparent, not only by proving their general
uncertainty, as compared with those essential ar-
ticles of the faith in which all Christians are agreed,
but further by showing at length the utter falli-
bility and incompetence of the means by which
men arrive at their so confident conclusions, and
the authorities to which they ap|>eal with so much
boldness. He alleges the difficulty of expound-
ing Scripture in regard to speculative points,— the
uncertainty of traditions, — the fallibility of popes,
councils, fathers, and even of the church in its
diffusive capacity, as being all liable to those in-
numerable causes of error and mistake, to which
the human mind is ever exposed, — tlie innocency
of theoretical error and invincible ignorance,— the
force of inveterate prejudice, and the almost equal
liability of all men alike, not excepting the wisest
and the best, to be mistaken, — as grounds and in-
centives to general charity towards others, and
motives to humility in each man's estimate of his
own opinions ; while yet the work cannot in ge-
neral be fairly charged with any tendency to ex-
tenuate the criminality or danger of such dogmas,
justly branded with the mark of heresy, as are
subversive of morality in individuals, and of the
good order of society.

Though accomplished, even beyond his contem-
poraries, in an age abounding in le'arned theolo-
gians, in the use of every weapon of polemical
warfare, the mind of Jeremy Taylor was not formed

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 25

for controversy ; and when he engaged in it, it was
never for the triumph of an opinion, but for the
extension of truth and the promotion of godliness.
Nevertheless, ennobled as every subject was to his
conception by the grand general views which his
heavenward eye, even in the midst of discussions
on inferior questions, ceased not to rest upon, he
is seen to most advantage in those works where the
wealth of his most aiFectionate heart, and the im-
passioned sublimity of his imagination, could be
fully displayed. The reader who would become
acquainted with what this celebrated writer truly
was, as well as he who would seek from his works
the highest profit which can be derived from the
study of the uninspired labors of the human mind,
must pass unread the Dudor Duhitantium, —
though the favorite of its author himself, — and
hasten through the pages even of the Liberty
OF Prophesyixg, in order to luxuriate amid the
lioly thoughts and glowing imagery, which abound-
in his devotional and moral writings— in the Great
Exemplar, or Life of Christ — the Holy Living
and dying, and his truly wonderful Sermons. As
far, however, as the nature of the following work
admitted the peculiar endowments of the author
to appear, they will in every page be recognized.
Its various and minute learning, its logical pre-
cision, the majestic march of its eloquent language
but especially its unequalled tone of moderation
and candor, present a combination, which, toge-
3

26 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

ther with the ever fresh interest of the subject, en-
ables it to maintain its place, notwithstanding the
celebrity of some others, and especially of that
of Locke, as the most distinguished treatise on
Religious Liberty in our language.

While, however, we glory in the perfect can-
dor and Christian mildness which appear in the
following pages, as being truly in the spirit of the
best times of that church of which its author is so
remarkable an ornament, we feel that it would
scarcely become us, on presenting our countrymen
with an edition intended for the widest and most
general circulation, to forbear pointing out one or
two instances in which the singular goodness of
his heart and his extreme desire of peace are
thouo-ht to have carried him somewhat too far. In
his observations, here and elsewhere, on the pecu-
liar tenets of the church of Rome, there is nothing
to disapprove : they exhibit the principles of our
reformers, softened and mellowed by time and
tliose reviving charities which would naturally
reappear, when all occasions for irritating colli-
sion between the two churches were removed.
That he was less judicious in his labored apology
for the principles then professed by the Anabapt-
ists, we have his own acknowledgment, in the fact
that he afterwards wrote a tract to explain himself
more at large on this head, in consequence of the
offence taken at the laxity of his language. This
was added to the subsequent editions of the

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 27

work y^ it was followed likewise bv a treatise in
favor of infant baptism, a further qualification of
the celebrated nineteenth section, afterwards in-
corporated into the Great Exemplar, of which
beautiful work it forms the sixth discourse. Per-
haps we may also venture to add, that less indul-
gence would have been shown towards those
opinions, the origin of which may be traced to the
heresy of Arius, had the excellent writer lived to
see the period when the doctrines to which we
allude, at that time scarcely acknowledged by a
small and obscure party, came to be received with
favor in the high places of the church.

It has been brought as a charge against Taylor,
in relation to the argument of this work, that he
bases his scheme of toleration on the weaknesses
of mankind which present a moral claim to tender-
ness and indulgence, rather than on the indefea-
sible right of every human being to the free
exercise of his own thoughts and opinions. The
difference results more from different views of
men's capacities to enjoy freedom, the consequence
perhaps of more or less experience of human life,
than from any want of sympathy with their just
claims, on the part of those who adopt the former

* This addition is not reprinted in the present volume,
from a wish to avoid exhausting the attention of the general
reader, by unnecessarily confining it, through so many pages,
to the minute details of a question of no great interest in our
times.

28 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

method. That tlie soul of Taylor took a generous
interest in every noble struggle of humanity, and
responded to every sentiment inspired by the
love of justice, will scarcely be called in question
by any one familiar with his various writings of an
ethical and practical character. But there was,
in his days, no need of the voice of such an advo-
cate to swell the clamorous cry for immunities,
which every man eagerly demanded for himself,
and as eagerly denied to his neighbor. He had
had a long and painful experience, how little
individual impatience of restraint tended to secure
equal toleration for all ; and it was natural that
in seeking that object he should follow an oppo-
site course. Besides, the extent of natural riglit
must ever be matter of debate and uncertainty,
and its assertion liable to dangerous abuse, whereas
it is evident to all that the limits of charity
towards our brethren cannot be pushed too far,
and that the freest use of it is consistent with the
safety of all parties. Again, the claim of right
can be a ground, at best, only for negative tolera-
tion ; it vindicates the liberty of the individual,
but provides him with no sphere for its exercise ;
the toleration, on the contrary, contemplated in
the subjoined treatise, is positive and active. Its
author recommends something more than a strenu-
ous assertion of our own freedom, with merely a
cold acquiescence in that of others : he proposes
the practise of the greater, as best securing the

IXTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 29

less — that opposing parties should not only refrain
from interfering with each other, but should
mutally hold forth the right hand of fellowship,
and, though differing invincibly on speculative
articles, should communicate in the profession of
the same essentials, and in the reciprocation of
all the brotherly and becoming charities of life.

In his seclusion at Golden Grove, or in its
neighborhood, Taylor continued to reside until the
year 1658, when at the earnest instance of his
friends he removed to Lisburn, near Portmore,
the seat of the Earl of Conway, in the north of
Ireland, where he accepted a lectureship under the
patronage of that nobleman. At the period of the
restoration, he chanced to be in London; and
thus, as one' of the tried and valuable friends of
mona.rchical and episcopal government, he imme-
diately fell under the favorable notice of the king,
and was shortly after nominated to the bishopric of
Down and Connor, to which the small adjacent
see of Dromore was subsequently added. It was
fortunate for Bishop Taylor's peace, though not for
the church's advantage, that the remoteness of his
dioceses placed him far from the sphere of the
profligate court of the second Charles, and se-
cured him from any share in the public measures
of his reign. This was one of the few periods —
and the last-— over which the filial admirers of the
church of England may desire to draw a veil. The

30 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

age of the cruel persecutions in Scotland, and
of the perfidious severities practised towards the
nonconformist at home, — when the church of En-
gland stopped to copy, against the Presbyterians,
the worst parts of their own intolerant conduct,
when the door of reconciliation was closed in the
wantonness of power, and the foundations of mo-
dern dissent laid upon an ever-widening basis, —
presents a spectacle, to which we still revert with
sorrow not unmixed with shame. What, then,
must have been the pain with which it was con-
templated, at the time, by the zealous advocate
of fraternal and enlightened toleration ? He found
his consolation, we may hope, in the careful dis-
charge of his episcopal functions in occasionally
adding to the list of his invaluable writings, in
the employments of a devotion as impassioned
and seraphic, as is consistent with the salutary
equilibrium of the faculties of the human mind,
and, doubtless, in the reflection, which must ever
attend the authors of those distinguished works of
genius, whose object is the promotion of God's
glory and the honor and welfare of his creatures,
that though the work through which, in the prime
of his mature faculties, he had endeavored to
instil into his divided country the wisdom of for-
bearance and Christian love, had as yet produced
no visible fruits, it had not been " cast upon the
waters" in vain ; but would in due time be found.

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 31

though " after many days," to have been concur-
ring with other caused to secure for posterity the
permanent blessings of religious peace.

We have alluded with all plainness to the errors
of the governors of our church, in periods when
exemption from such errors was not the rule, even
among Protestants, but the singular exception;
and thus, as her fearless and affectionate cliildren,
we feel we may be allowed to speak. For, (to
adopt the language of a contemporary writer,)
" why should a clergyman of the present day feel
interested in their defence ? Surely it is sufficient
for the warmest partisan of our establishment,
that he can assert with truth, — when our church
persecuted, it was on mistaken principles lield in
common by all Christendom. We can say, that
our church, apostolical in its faith, primitive in its
ceremonies, unequaled in its liturgical forms ;
that our church, which has kindled and displayed
more bright and burning lights of genius and
learning, than all other Protestant churches since
the Reformation, was least intolerant, when all
Christians unhappily deemed a species of intoler-
ance their religious duty ; that bishops of our
church were among the first that contended
against this error ; and finally, that since the
Revolution, when tolerance became general, the
Church of England in a tolerating age, has shown
herself eminently tolerant."

32 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

It is not long since we witnessed the erasure,
from our statute-books of the only remaining acts
of the legislature which could be regarded as
restraints upon the most perfect liberty of con-
science ; and cordially shall v/e, for our part
rejoice in their removal, should the event prove,
that sufficient care has been taken for the preser-
vation of that venerable establishment, in which
the deeply reflective writer just cited, " sees," he
tells us, " the greatest, if not tlie sole safe buhvark
of toleration." We cannot, however, shut our
eyes to the fact of danger to be apprehended from
the existence, in our times, — not indeed of a sect
or party, but — of a multitude of persons, wliose
declared opinions place them beyond the pale of
all parties and sects alike, who willfully mistake
for toleration, a licence to overleap and lay waste
all the defences of the public faith. Yet even
here we are willing rather to hail a motive to
exertion, than to acknowledge a ground of dis-
couragement; inasmuch as out of even this perni-
cious error we look to find the beneficent hand of
the Supreme Ruler of events extracting good: for
his Providence has supplied the means of cure in
the very excess of the evil, which in hurting some,
offending and rousing many, and endangering the
comfort of all, will be the means of bringing men
back to reflection, and thence to a peaceable sub-
mission to such sober and reasonable regulations

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. S3

for securing the full effects of Christianity upon
this great nation, as will be found equally condu-
cive to the welfare of the individual, and to the
progressive improvement of the human race.

R.C.

London, December, 1S33.

CONTENTS.

INTEODl^CTION

SECTION r.

Nature of Faith "^^

SECTION II.

Of Heresy and the nature of it, and that it is to be
accounted according to the strict capacity of Chris-
tian faith, and not in opinions speculative ; nor ever
to pious persona

SECTION III.

Of the diiBculty and uncertainty of arguraents from
Scripture, in question3 not simply necessary, not
literally determined ^^^

SECTION IV.

Of the difficulty of expounding Scripture - - l-iO

SECTION V

Of the insufficiency and uncertainty of Tradition to
expound Scripture, or determine Que^'tions - - 154

36 CONTENTS.

Piige

SECTION VI.

Of the uncertainty and insufficiency of Councils
Ecclesiastical to the same purpose - . . i80

SECTION VII.

Of the fallibility of the Pope, and the uncertainty of
his expounding Scripture, and resolving Questions - 214

SECTION VIII.

Of the disability of Fathers or Writers Ecc esi-
astical, to determine our Questions with certainty
and truth 252

SECTION IX.

Of tlie incompetency of the Church in its diffusive
capacity to be judge of Controversies, and the im-
pertinency of that pretence of the Spirit - - 267

SECTION X.

Of the authority of Reason, and that it proceeding
upon best grounds is the best judge - - - 272

SECTION XI.

Of some causes of error in the exercise of Reason
which are exculpate in themselves . - - 281

SECTION XII.

Of the innocency of error in opinion, in a pious
Person 300

CONTEXTo. 37

SECTION XHI.

Of the deportment to be used towards Persons dis-
agreeing, and the reasons why they are not to be
punished with death, &c. 308

SECTION XIV.

Of the practice of Christian Churches towards
persons disagreeing, and when Persecution first
came in 327

SECTION XV.

How far the Church or Governors may act to the
restraining false or differing opinions - - - 338

SECTION XVI.

Whether it be lawful for a Prince to give Toleration
to several Religions G42

SECTION XVII.

Of Compliance with disagreeing Persons, or weak
consciences in general 348

SECTION XVIII.

A particular consideration of the opinions of the
Anabaptists --- 364

SECTION XIX.

That there may be no Toleration of Doctrines incon-
sistent with Piety or the Public Good - - - 386
4

38 CONTENTS.

Page

SECTION XX.

How fax the Religion of the Church of Rome is
tolerable 390

SECTION XXI.

Of the Duty of particular Churches in allowing
Communion 408

SECTION XXII.

That particular men may communicate with Churches
of different persuasions, and how far they may do it 411

THE

LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING.

INTRODUCTION.

The infinite variety of opinions in matters of
religion, as they have troubled Christendom with
interests, factions, and partialities, so have tliey
caused great divisions' of the heart, and variety of
thoughts and designs amongst pious and prudent
men. For they all, seeing the inconveniences
v/hich the disunion of persuasions and opinions have
produced directly or accidentally, have thought
themselves obliged to stop this inundation of mis-
chiefs, and have made attempts accordingly. But
it hath happened to most of tliem as to a mistaken
physician, who gives excellent physic but misap-
plies it, and so misses of his cure. So have these
men : their attempts have been ineffectual ; for
they put their help to a wrong part, or they have
endeavored to cure the symptoms, and have let
the disease alone till it seemed incurable. Some
have endeavored to reunite these fractions, by
propounding such a guide which tliey were all

40 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

bound to follow ; hoping that the unity of a guide
would have persuaded unity of minds ; but who
this guide should be, at last became sucli a ques-
tion, that it was made part of the fire that was to
be quenched, so far was it from extinguishing any
part of the flame. Others thought of a rule, and
this must be the means of union, or nothing could
do it. But supposing all the world had been
agreed of this rule, yet the interpretation of it was
so full of variety that this also became part of the
disease for which the cure was pretended. All
men resolved upon this, that though they yet had
not hit upon the right, yet some way must be
thought upon to reconcile differences in opinion ;
thinking, so long as this variety should last, Christ's
kingdom was not advanced, and tlie work of the
gospel went on but slowly. Fev/ men in the mean
time considered, that so long as men had such va-
riety of principles, such several constitutions, edu-
cations, tempers, and distempers, hopes, interests,
and weaknesses, degrees of light, and degrees of
understanding, it was impossible all slioiild be of
one mind. And what is impossible to be done is
not necessary it should be done ; and therefore,
although variety of opinions was impossible to be
cured, (and they who attempted it did like him
who claps his shoulder to the ground to stop an
earthquake,) yet the inconveniences arising from
it might possibly be cured, not by uniting their
beliefs, — that was to be despaired of, — but by cur-
ing that which caused these mischiefs, and acci-
dental inconveniences of their disagreeings. For
although these inconveniences, which every man
sees and feels, were consequent to this diversity
of persuasions, yet it was but accidently and by
chance ; inasmuch as we see that in many things,

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 41

and they of great concernment, men allow to
themselves and to each other a liberty oi" dis-
agreeing, and no hurt neither. And certainly if
diversity of opinions were of itself the cause of
mischiefs, it would be so ever, that is, regularly and
universally, (but that we see it is not :) for there
are disputesin Christendom concerningmatters of
greater concernment than most of those opinions
that distinguish sects and make factions ; and yet
because men are permitted to differ in those great
matters, such evils, are not consequent to such
differences as are to the uncharitable mana2:in":
of smaller and more inconsiderable questions. It
is of greater consequence to believe right in tlie
question of the validity or invalidity of a death -bed
repentance, than to believe aright in the question
of purgatory ; and the consequences of the doctrine
of predetermination, are of deeper and more
material consideration than the products of the
lawfulness or unlawfulness of private masses; and
yet these great concernments, wliere a liberty of
prophesying in these questions hath been permit-
ted, hath made no distinct communion, no sects
of Christians, and the others have, and so have
these too in those places where they have peremp-
torily been determined on either side. Since
then if men are quiet and charitable in some
disao-reeino-s, that then and there the inconvenience
ceases, if they were so in all others where lawfully
they might, (and they may in most.) Christendom
should be no longer rent in pieces, but would be
redintegrated in a new Pentecost ; and although
the Spirit of God did rest upon us in divided
tongues, yet so long as those tongues were of fire
not to kindle strife, but to warm our affections

and inflame our charities, we should find that this
4.V

42 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

variety of opinions in several persons would be
looked upon as an argument only of diversity of
operations, while the Spirit is the same ; and that
another man believes not so well as I, is only an
argument that I have a better and a clearer illu-
mination than he, that I have a better gift than
he, received a special grace and favor, and excel
him in this, and am perhaps excelled by him in
many more. And if we all impartially endeavor
to find a truth, since this endeavor and search
only is in our power, (tliat we sliail find it, being
ab extra, a gift and an assistance extrinsical,) I
can see no reason why tlris pious endeavor to find
out truth shall not be of more force to unite us in
the bonds of charity, than his misery in missing it
shall be to disunite us. So that since a union of
persuasion is impossible to be attained, if we
would attempt tb.e cure by such remedies as are
apt to enkindle and increase charity, I am confi-
dent we might see a blessed peace would be the
reward and crown of such endeavors.

But men are now-a-days, and indeed always
have been, since the expiration of the first blessed
ages of Christianity, so in love with their own
fancies and opinions, as to think faith and all
Christendom is concerned in their support and
maintenance ; and whoever is not so fond and does
not dandle them like themselves, it grows up to a
quarrel, which because it is in materia theologix
is made a quarrel in religion, and God is entitled
to it ; and then if you are once thought an enemy
to God, it is our duty to persecute you even to
death, we do God good service in it ; when, if we
should examine the matter rightly, the question is
either in materia non revelata, or mim/s evidenf.i,
or 7ion necessaria, either it is not revealed, or not

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 43

SO clearly, but that wise and honest men may be
of diiferent minds, or else it is not of the founda-
tion of faith, but a remote superstructure, or else
of mere speculation, or perhaps, when all comes
to all, it is a false opinion, or a matter of human
interest, that we have so zealously contended for ;
for to one of these heads most of the disputes of
Christendom may be reduced ; so that I believe
the present factions (or the most) are from the
same cause which St. Paul obsei'ved in the Corin-
tliian schism, 'When there are divisions among
you, are ye not carnal ?' It is not the dittering
opinions that is the cause of the present ruptures,
but want of charity ; it is not the variety of under-
standings, but the disunion of wills and aftections ;
it is not the several principles, but the several ends
that cause our miseries: our opinions commence and
are upheld according as our turns are served and
our interests are preserved, and there is no cure
for us but piety and charity. A holy life will
make our belief holy, if we consult not humanity
and its imperfections in the choice of our religion,
but search for truth v, ithout designs, save only of
acquiring heaven, and then be as careful to pre-
serve charity, as we were to ^et a point of faith :
I am much persuaded we should find out more
truths by this means ; or however (which is the
main of all) we shall be secured though we miss
them ; and then we are well enough.

For if it be evinced that one heaven shall hold
men of several opinions, if the unity of faith be
not destroyed by that which men call differing
religions, and if an unity of charity be the duty
of us all even towards persons that are not per-
suaded of every proposition we believe, then I
would fain know to what purpose are all those

44 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

stirs and great noises in Christendom ; those
names of faction, the several' names of churches
not distinguished by the division of kingdoms, the
church obeying tlie government,* which was the
primitive rule and canon, but distinguished by
names of sects and men. These are all become
instruments of hatred ; thence come schisms and
parting of communions, and then persecutions,
and then v/ars and rebellion, and then tlie disso-
lutions of all friendships and societies. All these
mischiefs proceed not from this, that all men are
not of one mind, for that is neitlier necessary nor
possible, but that every opinion is made an article
of faith, every article is a ground of a quarrel,
every quarrel makes a faction, every faction is
zealous, and all zeal pretends for God, and what-
soever is for God cannot be too muclu We by
tliis time are come to that pass, we think we love
not God except we hate our brother ; and we
have not the virtue of religion, unless we perse-
cute all religions but our own : for lukewarmness
is so odious to God and man, that we, proceeding
furiously upon these mistakes, by supposing we pre-
serve the body, we destroy the soul of religion ;
or by being zealous for fliith, or which is all one,
for that which we mistake for faith, we are cold
in charity, and so lose the reward of both.

All these errors and mischiefs must be disco-
vered and cured, and that is the purpose of this
discourse.

* Ut ecclesia^sequatur imperium. — Optat. B. iii.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 45

SECTION I.

Nature of Faith,

First, then, it is of great concernment to know the
nature and integrity of Faith : for there begins our
first and great mistake. For faith, although it be of
great excellency, yet when it is taken for a habit
intellectual, it hath so little room and so narrow a
capacity, that it cannot lodge thousands of those
opinions m hich pretend to be of her family.

For although it be necessary for us to believe
whatsoever we know to be revealed of God, — and
so every man does, that believes there is a God,—
yet it is not necessary, concerning many things, to
know that God hath revealed them ; that is, we
may be ignorant of, or doubt concerning the pro-
positions, and indifterently maintain either part,
when the question is not concerning God's veracity,
but whether God hath said so, or no : that which
is of the foundation of faith, that only is necessary ;
and the knowing or not knowing of that, the be-
lieving or disbelieving it, is that only which, as to
the nature of the thing to be believed, is in imme-
diate and necessary order to salvation or danina-
tion.

Now, all the reason and demonstration of the
world convinces us, that this foundation of faith, or
the great adequate object of the faith that saves us,
is that great mysteriousness of Christianity which
Christ taught with so much diligence : for the cre-
dibility of which he wrought so many miracles ; foi*

46 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the testimony of which the apostles endured per-
secutions ; that which was a folly to the Gentiles^
and a scandal to the Jews, this is that whicli is the
object of a Christian's faith : all other things are
implicitly in the belief of the articles of God's ve-
racity, and are not necessary in respect of the con-
stitution of faith to be drawn out, but may there
lie in the bowels of the great articles, without dan-
ger to any thing or any person, unless some other
accident or circumstance makes them necessary.
Now the great obj#ct which I speak of, is Jesus
Christ crucified. ' I have determind to know no-
thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him cru-
cified;'so said St. Paul to the church of Corinth.
This is the article upon the confession of which
Christ built his church, viz. only upon St. Peter's
creed, which was no more but this simple enun-
ciation, * We believe and are sure that thou art
Christ, the son of the living God :'* and to this
salvation particularly is promised, as in the case of
Martha's creed, John^ xi. 27. To this the Scripture
gives the greatest testimony, and to all them that
confess it ; ' For every spirit that confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God ;' and
' Whosoever confesseth that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God :'t the
believing this article is the end of writing the four
Gospels : ' These things are written, that ye might
believe, that Jesus is the Christ the son of God :'!
and then that this is sufficient follows : ' and that be-
lieving,'' viz. this article (for this was only instanced
in) * ye might have life through his name.^ This is that
great article which, as to the nature of the things
to be believed, is sufficient disposition to prepare a

* Matt. xvi. 19. t 1 John, iv. 2, 15. % John, xx. 31

THE LIBERTY OF PRePHESYING. 47

catechumen to baptism, as appears in the case of
the Ethiopian eunuch, whose creed was only this,
' I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God,' and
upon this confession (saith the story) they both
went into the water, and the Ethiop M^as washed,
and became as white as snow.

In these particular instances, there is no variety
of articles, save only that in the annexes of the se-
veral expressions, such things are expressed, as
besides that Christ is come, they tell from whence,
and to what purpose : and whatsoever is expressed,
or is to these purposes implied, is made articulate
and explicate, in the short and admirable myste-
rious creed of St. Paul, Eom. x. 8. ' This is the
word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' This is the
great and entire complexion of a Christian's faith ;
and since salvation is promised to the belief of this
creed, either a snare is laid for us, with a purpose
to deceive us, or else nothing is of prime and ori-
ginal necessity to be believed, but this, Jesus Christ
our Redeemer ; and all that which is the necessary
parts, means, or main actions of working this re-
demption for us, and the honor for him, is in the
bowels and fold of the great article, and claims an
explicit belief by the same reason that binds us to
the belief of its first complexion, without which
neither the thing could be acted, nor the proposi-
tion understood.

For the act of believing propositions is not fur
itself, but in order to certain ends ; as sermons are
to good life and obedience ; for (excepting that it
acknowledges God's veracity, and so is a direct act
of religion) believing a revealed proposition hath

48 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

no excellency in itself, but in order to that end for
which we are instructed in such revelations. Now
God's great purpose being to bring us to him by
Jesus Christ, Christ is our medium to God, obedi-
ence is the medium to Christ, and faith the medium
to obedience, and therefore is to have its estimate
in proportion to its proper end, and those things
are necessary which necessarily promote the end,
without which obedience cannot be encouraged or
prudently enjoined : so that those articles are ne-
cessary, that is, those are fundamental points, upon
which we build our obedience ; and as the influence
of the article is to the persuasion or engagement of
obedience, so they have their degrees of necessit}^
Now all that Cln-ist, when he preached, taught us
to believe, and all that the apostles in their sermons
propound, all aim at this, that we should acknow-
ledge Christ for our Lawgiver and our Savior; so
that nothing can be necessary by a prime necessity
to be believed explicitly, but such things which
are therefore parts of the great article, because they
either encourage our services or oblige them, such
as declare Christ's greatness in himself, or his "-ood-
ness to us. So that although we must neither deny
nor doubt of any thing, which we know our great
Master hath taught us; yet salvation is in special,
and by name, annexed to the belief of those articles
only, which have in them the endearments of our
services, or the support of our confidence, or the
satisfaction of our hopes, such as are — Jesus Christ
the son of the living God, the crucifixion and re
surrection of Jesus, forgiveness of sins by his blood
resurrection of the dead, and life eternal ; because
these propositions qualify Christ for our Savior
and our Lawgiver, the one to engage our services,
the other to endear them ; for so much is necessary

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 49

as will make us to be his servants, and his disciples ;
and what can be required more ? This only; sal-
vation is promised to the explicit belief of those
articles, and therefore those only are necessary, and
those are sufficient ; but thus, to us in the formality
of Christians, which is a formality superadded to
a former capacity, we, before we are Christians, are
reasonable creatures, and capable of a blessed eter-
nity ; and there is a creed which is the Gentiles'
creed, which is so supposed in the Christian creed,
as it is supposed in a Christian to be a man, and
that is, " he that cometh to God must believe that he
is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligent-
ly seek him."

If any man will urge farther, that whatsoever is
deducible from these articles by necessary conse-
quence, is necessary to be believed explicitly, I
answer : It is true, if he sees the deduction and
coherence of the parts; but it is not certain that
every man shall be able to deduce whatsoever is
either immediately, or certainly deducible from
these premises ; and then, since salvation is pro-
mised to the explicit belief of these, I see not how
any man can justify the making the way to heaven
narrower than Jesus Christ hath made it, it being
already so narrow, that there are few that find it.

In the pursuance of this great truth the apostles,
or t]\e holy men their contemporaries and dis-
ciples, composed a creed to be a rule of faith to
all Christians, as appears in Irenaeus, Tertullian,*
St. Cyprian,t St. Austin,! Ruffinu3,§ and divers
others ;!| which creed, unless it had contained all

* Apol. Contr. Gent. c. 47. De Veland. Virg. c. 1.

t In Exposit. Symbol. | Serm. v. de Tempore, c. 2.

§ In symbol apud Cyprian.

II All the orthodox fathers maintain that the creed is of

50 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the entire object of faith, and the foundation of
religion, it cannot be imagined to what purpose it
should serve ; and that it was so esteemed bj the
whole church of God in all ages, appears in this, that
since faith is a necessary predisposition to baptism
in all persons capable of the use of reason, all cate-
chumens in the Latin church, coming to baptism,
were interrogated concerning their faith, and gave
satisfaction in the recitation of this creed. And
in the east they professed exactly the same faith,
something differing in words, but of the same mat-
ter, reason, design, and consequence; and so they
did at Jerusalem, so at A([uileia. This was that
''correct and blameless faith, proclaimed by the holy
catholic and apostolic church, without any mixture
of novelty or innovation." '•■ These articles were 'the
instructions delivered by the holy apostles and
their fellow-laborers, to the holy churches of God.'t
Now, since the apostles and apostolical men and
churches in these their symbols, did recite parti-
cular articles to a considerable number, and were
so minute in their recitation, as to descend to cir-
cumstances, it is more than probable that they
omitted nothing of necessity; and that these arti-
cles are not general principles, in the bosom of
which many more articles equally necessary to
be believed explicitly and more particular, are in-
folded ; but that it is as minute an explication of
those fundamental principles of belief I before
reckoned, as is necessary to salvation.

apostolic origin. — Sext. Senensis. lib. ii. Bibl. vide Genebr.
lib. iii. de Triu.

* "OpiB-}) x*/ afxLfA-n^og 7r;crT;r, WTTiO znpuTTU it ayidt nrov BioZ

\ To. tZv ctyiccv dTrcs-ToXwv kai nrZv fj-ir \Kii\m Sictrpi--l^dvTav iv
Txh ayiMc Qiov ix.>ih>i<7-Ui? S'lS'uy/ufxru.—JAh. V. Cod. de St
Trin. et. Fid. Catli. cura. recta.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 51

And therefore TertuUian calls the creed, "the
rule of faith, by whose guidance, whatever appears
ambiguous or obscure in Scripture may be inves-
tigated and explained."* " The seal of the heart,
and the oath of our warfare,"t St. Ambrose calls
it: "the comprehension and perfection of our
faith,"! as it is called by St. Austin, Serm. 115 :
" the confession, declaration, and rule of faith,"§
generally, by the ancients. The profession of
this creed was the exposition of that saying of St.
Peter, ' the answer of a good conscience towards
God :' for of the recitation and profession of this
creed, in baptism, it is that TertuUian says, " the
soul is not consecrated by the water, but by the
truth professed."|| And of this was the prayer
of Hilary, " Regard this expression of my con-
science, that I may always hold fast the profession
which I made by baptism, in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in token of
my regeneration."^ And according to the rule
and reason of this discourse, (that it may appear
that the creed hath in it all articles ^^rimo etper se,
primely and universally necessary,) the creed is
just such an explication of that faith which
the apostles preached, viz. the creed which St.
Paul recites, as contains in it all those things

* " Regulam fidei, qua salva et forma ejus manente in
suo ordine, possit in Scriptura tractari et inquiri si quid
videtur vel ambiguitate pendere vel obscuritate obumbrari."

t "Cordis signaculum et nostrae militice sacramentutn."
—Lib. iii. De Velandis Virgin.

X " Comprebensio fidei nostrae atque perfectio."

§ " Confessio, expositio, regula fidei."

II " Anima non lotione, sed responsione sancitur.'* — De
Resur. Carnis.

1 " Conserva banc conscientiae meae vocem, ut quod in
regenerationis meae symbolo baptizatus in Patre, Filio, Spir.
S. professus sum semper obtineam." — Lib. xii. de Trinit.

52 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

which entitle Christ to us in the capacities of our
Lawgiver and our Savior, such as enable him to
the great vi^ork of redemption, according to the
predictions concerning him, and such as engage
and encourage our services. For, taking out the
article of Christ's descent into hell, (which v^^as
not in the old creed, as appears in some of the
copies I before referred to, in Tertullian, Ruffinus,
and Irenseus ; and indeed, was omitted in all the
confessions of the eastern churches, in the church of
Rome, and in the Nicene creed, which bj adoption
came to be the creed of the catholic church.) all
other articles are such as directly constitute the
parts and work of our redemption, such as clearly
derive the honor to Christ, and enable him v/ith
the capacities of our Savior and Lord. The rest
engage our services by proposition of such articles,
which are rather promises than propositions ; and
the whole creed, take it in any of the old forms,
is but an analysis of that which St. Paul calls the
word of salvation, whereby we shall be saved ;
viz. that we confess Jesus to be Lord, and that
God raised him from the dead ; by the first whereof
he became our Lawgiver and our Guardian ; by
the second he was our Savior ; the other things
are but parts and main actions of those two.
Now, what reason there is in the word that can
enwrap any thing else within the foundation; that
is, in the whole body of articles simply and inse-
parably necessary, or in the prime original neces-
sity of faith, I cannot possibly imagine. These do
the work, and therefore nothing can, upon the true
grounds of reason, enlarge the necessity to the
inclosure of other articles.

Now, if more were necessary than the articles
of the creed, I demand why was it made the

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 5S

characteristic note of a Christian from a heretic,
or a Jew, or an infidel ? Or to what purpose was
it composed r* Or if this was intended as suffi-
cient, did the apostles, or those churches which
the J founded, know any thing else to be neces-
sary ? If they did not, then either nothing more
is necessary, (I speak of matters of mere belief,)
or they did not know all the will of the Lord, and
so were unfit dispensers of the mysteries of the
kingdom; or if they did know more was neces-
sary, and yet would not insert it, they did an act
of public notice, and consigned it to all ages of the
church, to no purpose, unless to beguile credulous
people by making them believe their faith was
sufficient, having tried it by that touchstone apos-
tolical, wlien there was no such matter.

But if this was sufficient to bring men to licaven
then, why not now ? If the apostles admitted all
to their comnmnion that believed this creed, why
shall we exclude any that preserve the same
entire ? Why is not our faith of these articles of
as much efficacy for bringing us to heaven, as it
was in the churches apostolical ? — who had guides
more infallible, that might without error have
taught them superstructures enou^^h, if they had
been neccessary. And so they did : but that they
did not insert them into the creed, when they
miglit have done it with as much certainty as these
articles, makes it clear to my understanding, that
other things were not necessary, but these were ;
that whatever profit and advantages might come
from other articles, yet these were sufficient ; and
however certain persons might accidentally be

* Vide Isidor de Eccles. Offic. lib. i. cap. 20. Suidam,
Turncbura, lib. ii. c. 30. advers. Venant. For. in Exeoj,
f^ymb. Feuard^^nt. in Tren. lib. i. c. 2.

54 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

obliged to believe much more, yet this was the one
and only foundation of faith upon which all persons
were to build their hopes of heaven ; this was
therefore necessary to be taught to all, because of
necessity to be believed by all. So that although
other persons might commit a delinquency in a
moral principle, if they did not know, or did not
believe, much more because they were obliged to
further disquisitions in order to other ends, yet
none of these who held the creed entire could
perish for want of necessary faith, though possibly
he might for supine negligence or aftected igno-
rance, or some other fault which had influence,
upon his opinions and his understanding, he hav-
ing a new supervening obligation from accidental
circumstances, to know and believe more.

Neither are we obliged to make these articles
more particular and minute than the creed. For
since the apostles, and indeed our blessed Lord
himself, promised heaven to them who believed
him to be the Christ tliat was to come into the
world, and that he who believes in him should be
partaker of the resurrection and life eternal, he
will be as good as his word ; yet because this arti
cle was very general, and a complexion rathei
than a single proposition, the apostles and others
our fathers in Christ did make it more explicit ;
and though they have said no more than what lay
entire and ready formed in the bosom of tlie great
article, yet they made their extracts to great pur-
pose and absolute sufficiency, and therefore there
needs no more deductions or remoter consequen-
ces from the first great article, than the creed of
the apostles. For although whatsoever is certainly
deduced from any of these articles made already
so explicit, is as certainly true, and as much to be

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 55

believed as the article itself, because nothing but
what is true can flow from truth,* yet because it
is not certain that our deductions from them are
certain and what one calls evident, is so obscure
to another, that he believes it false ; it is the best
and only safe course to rest in that explication
the apostles have made ; because, if any of these
apostolical deductions were not demonstrable
evidently to follow from that great article to
which salvation is promised, yet the authority of
them who compiled the symbol, the plain descrip-
tion of the articles from the words of Scripture,
the evidence of reason demonstrating these to be
the whole foundation, are sufficient u])on great
grounds of reason to ascertain us ; but if we go
farther, besides the easitiess of being deceived, we
relying upon cur own discourses, (which though
they may be true, and then bind us to follow them,
but yet no more than when they only seem truest.)
yet they cannot make the thing certain to another,
much less necessary in itself. And since God
would not bind us upon pain of s!n and punish-
ment, to make deductions ourselves, much less
would he bind us to follow another man's logic
as an article of our faith ; I say much less
another man's, for our own integrity (for we will
certainly be true to ourselves, and do our own
business heartily) is as lit and proper to be em-
ployed as anotlier man's ability. He cannot secure
me that his ability is absolute and the greatest,
but I can be more certain that my own purposes
and fidelity to myself is such. And since it is
necessary to rest s-.mewhere, lest we should run
to an infinity, it is best to rest there where the

* " Ex veris possunt nil nisi vera sequi."

56 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

apostles and the churches apostolical rested ; when
not only they who are able to judge, but others
who are not, equally ascertairied of the certainty
and of the sufficiency of that explanation.

This I say, not that I believe it unlawful or
unsafe for the church or any of the ecclesiastical
rulers, or any wise man to extend his own creed
to anything which may certainly follow from any
one of the articles ; but I say, that no such deduc-
tion is fit to be pressed on others as an article of
faith ; and that every deduction which is so made,
unless it be such a thing as is at first evident to
all, is but sufficient to make a human faith, nor
can it amount to a divine, much less can be obli-
gatory to bind a person of a diftcring persuasion
to subscribe under pain of losing his faith, or being
a heretic. For it is a demonstration, that nothing
can be necessary to be believed under pain of
damnation, but such propositions of which it is
certain that God hath spoken and taught them to
us, and of which it is certain that this is their
sense and purpose: for if the sense be uncertain,
we can no more be obliged to believe it in a cer-
tain sense, than we are to believe it at all, if it
were not certain that God delivered it. But if it
be only certain that God spake it, and not certain
to what sense, our faith of it is to be as indeter-
minate as its sense ; and it can be no other in the
nature of the thing, nor is it consonant to God's
justice to believe of him that he can or will re-
quire more. And this is of the nature of those
propositions, wliich Aristotle calls Bio-ng, to which
without any further probation, all wise men will
give assent at its first publication. And therefore
deductions inevident^ from the evident and plain
letter of faith, are as great recessions from the

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 57

obligation, as they are from the simplicity and
certainty of the article. And this I also affirm,
although the church of any one denomination, or
represented in a council, shall make the deduction
or declaration. For unless Christ had promised
his spirit to protect every particular church from
all errors less material ; unless he had promised
an absolute, universal infallibility even in the most
trifling matters ; unless superstructures be of the
same necessity with the foundation, and that
God's Spirit doth not only preserve his church in
the being of a church, but in a certainty of not
saying any thing that is less certain; (and that
whether they will or no too ;) we may be bound to
peace and obedience, to silence and to charity, but
have not a new article of faith made : and a new
proposition, though consequent (as it is said) from
an article of faith, becomes not therefore a part of
the faith, nor of absolute necessity. '• What did
the church ever aim at doing by the decrees of her
councils, but to make what was believed before,
believed afterwards more firmly?"* said Vicen-
tius Lirinensis: whatsoever was of necessary be-
lief before is so still, and hath a new degree added,
by reason of a new light or a clear explication ;
but no propositions can be adopted into the foun-
dation. The church hath power to intend our
faith, but not to extend it ; to make our belief
more evident, but not more large and comprehen-
sive. For Christ and his apostles concealed no-
thing that was necessary to the integrity of Chris-
tian faith, or salvation of our souls ; Christ declared
all the will of his Father, and the apostles were

* "Quid unquam aliud ecclesia conciliorum decretis eni?a
est, nisi ut quod antea simpliciter credebatur, hoc idem
postea diligentius crederetur?" — Contra Hseres. cap. 32.

58 THE SACRED CLASSICS*

stewards and dispensers of the same mysteries,
and were faithful in all the house, and therefore
concealed nothing, but taught the whole doctrine
of Christ: so they said themselves. And, indeed,
if they did not teach all the doctrine of faith, an
angel or a man might have taught us other things
than what they taught, without deserving an
anathema, but not without deserving a blessing
for making up that faith entire, which the apostles
left imperfect. Now, if they taught all the whole
body of faith, either the church in the following
ages lost part of the faith, (and then where was
their infallibility, and the effect of those glorious
promises, to which she pretends, and hath certain
title?—- for she may as well introduce a falsehood
as lose a truth, it being as much promised to her,
that the Holy Ghost shall lead her into all truth,
as that she shall be preserved from all errors, as
appears, John, xvi. 13,) or if she retained all the
faith which Christ and his apostles consigned and
taught, then no age can, by declaring any point,
make that to be an article of faith, which was not
so in all ages of Christianity before such declara-
tion. And, indeed, if the church,* by declaring
an article, can make that to be necessary which
before was not necessary, I do not see how it can
stand with the charity of the church so to do, (es-
pecially after so long experience she hath had,
that all men will not believe every such decision
or explication,) for by so doing, she makes the
narrow way to heaven narrower, and chalks out
one path more to the devil than he had before, and
vet the way was broad enough when it was at the

* Vide Jacob Almain. in 3. Sent. d. 25. Q. Unic. Dab. 3.
*• Patet ergo, quod nulla Veritas est catholica ex approbatione
ecclesise vel Papae."— Gabr. Biel. in 3. Sent. Dist. 25. q.
Unic. art. 3. Dub. 3. ad finem.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 59

narrowest. For before, differing persons might be
saved in diversity of persuasions ; and now, after
this declaration, if they cannot, there is no other
alteration made, but that some shall be damned,
who before, even in the same dispositions and
belief, should have been beatified persons. For,
therefore, it is well for the fathers of the primitive
church, that their errors were not discovered ; for
if they had been contested, (for that would have
been called discovery enough.) either they must
have relinquished their errors, or been expelled
from the church.* But it is better as it was ; they
v/ent to heaven by that good fortune, whereas,
otherwise they might have gone to tlie devil. And
yet there were some errors, particularly that of
St. Cyprian, that was discovered, and he went to
heaven, it is thought ; possibly they might so too
for all this pretence. But suppose it true, yet
whether that declaration of an article of which
witli safety we either might have doubted or been
ignorant, do more good than the damning of those
many souls occasionally, but yet certainly and
foreknowingly, does hurt, I leave it to all wise
and good men to determine. And yet, besides
this, it cannot enter into my thoughts, that it can
possibly consist with God's goodness, to put it
into the power of man so palpably and openly to
alter the paths and inlets to heaven, and to strait-
en his mercies, unless he had furnished these men
with an infallible judgment, and an infallible pru-
dence, and a never-failing charity; that they
should never do it but with great necessity, and
with great truth, and without ends and human
designs, of which I think no arguments can make

* " Vel errores emendassent, vel ab eccleaia ejecti fuissent.
Bellar. deLaicis, lib. iii. c. 20, § Ad pj-imam Contirmalionern.

60 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

US certain what the primitive church hath done in
this case : I shall afterwards consider and give an
account of it, but for the present, there is no in-
security in ending there where the apostles ended,
in building where they built, in resting where they
left us, unless the same infallibility which they
had, had still continued, which I think I shall
hereafter make evident it did not. And therefore
those extensions of creed which were made in the
first ages of the church, although for the matter
they were most true, yet, because it was not cer-
tain that they sliould be so, and they might have
been otherwise, therefore they could not be in the
same order of faith, nor in the same degrees of
necessity to be believed with the articles apostoli-
cal ; and therefore whether they did well or no in
laying the same weight upon them, or whether
they did lay the same weight or no, we will after-
wards consider.

But to return. I consider that a foundation of
faith cannot alter ; unless a new building be to be
made the foundation is the same still : and this
foundation is no other but that which Christ and
his apostles laid — which doctrine is like himself,
yesterday, and today, and the same for ever : so
that the articles of necessary belief to all, (which
are the only foundation,) ihey cannot be several in
several ages, and to several persons. ISTay, the
sentence and declaration of the church cannot lay
this foundation, or make any tiling of the founda-
tion, because the church cannot lay her own foun-
dation: we must suppose her to be a building, and
that she relies upon the foundation, which is
therefore supposed to be laid before, because she
is built upon it ; or (to make it more explicate)
because a cloud may arise from the allegory of

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 6l

building and foundation, it is plainly thus : the
church beinr^ a company of men obliged to the
duties of faiih and obedience, the duty and obliga-
tion being oi the faculties of will and understand-
ing, to adhere to such an object, must presuppose
the object made ready for them ; for as the object
is before the act in order of nature, and therefore
not to be produced or increased by the faculty,
(which is receptive, and cannot be active upon its
proper object,) so the object of the church's faith
is in order of nature before the church, or before
the act and habit of faith, and therefore cannot be
enlarged by the church, any more than tlie act of
the viiive faculty can add visibility to the object.
So that if we have found out what foundation
Christ and liis apostles did lay — that is, what
body and system of articles, simply necessary,
they taught and required of us to believe — we
need not, we cannot go any further for foundation,
we cannot enlarge that system or collection.
Now, then, although all that they said is true, and
nothing of it be doubted or disbelieved, yet as
all they said is neither written nor delivered,
(because all was not necessary,) so we know that
of those thi:iq;s which are written some thino;s are
as far off from the foundation as those thino-s which
were omitted, and therefore, although now acci-
dentally they fnust be believed by all that know
them, yet it is not necessary all should know
them ; and that all should know them in the sa^.e
sense and interpretation, is neither probable nor
obligatory : but, therefore, since these things are
to be distinguished by some differences of neces-
sary and not necessary, whether or no is not the
declaration of Christ and his apostles affixing
salvation to the belief of some great comprehen-
6

62 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

sive articles, and the act of the apostles, rendering
them as explicit as they thought convenient, and
consigning that creed made so explicit, as a tessera
of a Christian, as a comprehension of the articles
of his belief, as a sufl&cient disposition, and an
express of the faith of a catechumen, in order
to baptism,— whether or no, I say, all this be not
sufficient probation that these only are of absolute
necessity, that this is sufficient for mere belief in
order to heaven, and that therefore whosoever
believes these articles heartily and explicitly, as
St. John's expression is, ' God dwelleth in him,'
I leave it to be considered and judged of from the
premises : only this, if the old doctors had been
made judges in these questions, they would have
passed their affirmative ; for to instance in one
for all, of this it was said by Tertiillian : " This
symbol is the one sufficient, immovable, unalter-
able, and unchangeable rule of liiith, that admits
no increment or decrement ; but if the integrity
and unity of this be preserved, in all other things
men may take a liberty of enlarging their know-
ledges and prophesyings, according as tliey are
assisted by the grace of God."*

* " Regula quidera fidei una omnino est solo immobilis et
irreformabilis, he, Hac lege fidei manente catera jam disci-
plinse et conversationis admittunt novitatem correctionis,
operante scil. et proficiente usque in iinem gratia Dei." —
Lib. de Veland. Virg.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING.

SECTION 11.

Of Heresy and the nature of it, and that it is to
be accounted according to the strict capacity of
Chnstian faith, and not in opinions speculative ;
nor ever to pious persons.

And thus I have represented a short draught of
the object of faitli, and its foundation; tlie next
consideration, in order to our main design, is to
consider what was and what ought to be the judg-
ment of the apostles concerning heresy; for al-
though there are more kinds of vices than there
are of virtues, yet the number of them is to be taken
by accounting the transgressions of their virtues,
and by the limits of faith ; we may also reckon the
analogy and proportions of heresy, that as we
have seen who was called faithful by the apostoli-
cal men, we may also perceive who were listed
by them in the catalogue of heretics, that we in
our judgments may proceed accordingly.

And first, the word Heresy is used in Scrip-
-4i^re indifferently — in a good sense for a sect or
di^sion of opinion, and men following it, or some-
times in a bad sense, for a false opinion signally
condemned. But these kind of people were then
called antichrists and false prophets more fre-
quently than heretics, and then there were many
of them in the world. But it is observable that
no heresies are noted with distinct particularity
in Scripture, but such as are great errors practical —
such whose doctrines taught impiety, or such who
denied the coming of Christ directly or by conse-

64 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

quence, not remote or wiredrawn, but prime and
immediate : and therefore, in the code Be S, Trini-
tate e,t Fide Catholiccf, heresy is called "a wicked
opinion and an ungodly doctrine."*

The first false doctrine we find condemned by
the apostles, was the opinion of Simon Magus,
who thought the Holy Ghost was to be bought
with money. He thought very dishonorably to
the blessed Spirit ; but yet his followers are rather
noted of a vice, neither resting in the understand-
ing, nor derived from it, but wholly practical. It
is Simony, not heresy, though in Simon it was a
false opinion, proceeding from a low account of
God, and promoted by his own ends of pride and
covetousness : the great heresy that troubled them
was the doctrine of the necessity of keeping the
law of Moses, the necessity of circumcision ;
against which doctrine they were therefore zeal-
ous, because it was a direct overthrow to the very
end and excellency of Christ's coming. And
this was an opinion most pertinaciously and
obstinately maintained by the Jews, and liad
made a sect among the Galatians, and this was
indeed wholly in opinion; and against it the apos-
tles opposed two articles of the creed, which
served at several times, according as the Jews
changed their op' lion, and left son e degrees of
their error : ' I believe in Jesus Christ, and I be-
lieve the holy catholic church ;' for tiiey therefore
pressed the necessity of Moses's law, because they
were unwilling to forego the glorious appellative
of being God's own peculiar people; and that sal-
vation was of the Jews, and that the rest of the
world were capable of tha,t g';ace no otherwise but

THE LIBERTi' OF PROPHESYING. 65

by adoption into their religion, and becoming
proselytes. But this was so ill a doctrine, as that
it OA-erthrev/ the great benefits of Christ's coming;
for ' if they were circumcised, Christ profited
them nothing ;' meaning this, that Christ will not
be a Savior to them who do not acknowledge him
for theii* Lawgiver ; and they neither confess him
tlieir Lawgiver nor their Savior, that look to be
justified by the law of Moses, and observation of
legal rites ; so that this doctrine was a direct ene-
jiiy to the foundation, and therefore the apostles
were so zealous against it. Now, then, that other
opinion, which the apostles met at Jerusalem to
resoh e, was but a piece of tliat opinion ; for the
Jews and proselytes were drawn off from their
lees and sedimc'nt by degrees, step by step. At
first, they would not endure any should be saved
but themselves and their proselytes. Being wrought
olTfrom this height by miracles, and preaching of
the apostles, they admitted the Gentiles to a pos-
.sibility of salvation, but yet so as to hope for it by
Moses's law. From which foolery when they
were with much ado dissuaded, and told that sal-
vation was by faith in Christ, not by works of the
law, vet they resolved to plough with an ox and
an ass still, and join Moses with Christ; not as
sliadow and substance, but in an equal confedera-
tion ; Christ should save the Gentiles if he was
lielped by Moses, but alone Christianity could not
do it. Against this the apostles assembled at
Jerusalem, and made a decision of the question,
tying some of the Gentiles (such only who were
blended by the Jews as fellov/ countrymen) to
observation of such rites which the Jews had de-
rived by tradition from Noah., intending by tliis
to satisfy the Jews, as far as might be. with a
6^

66 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

reasonable compliance and condescension ; the
other Gentiles, who were unmixed, in the mean-
while remaining free, as appears in tlie liberty St.
Paul gave the church of Corinth, of eating idol sa-
crifices, (expressly against the decree at Jerusa-
lem,) so it were without scandal. And yet for
all this care and curious discretion, a little of the
leaven still remained: all tliis they thought did so
concern the Gentiles, that it was totally imperti-
nent to the Jews ; still they had a distinction to
satisfy the letter of the apostle's decree, and yet
to persist in their old opinion ; and this so con-
tinued, that fifteen Christian bishops, in succes-
sion were circumcised, even until the destruction
of Jerusalem, under Adrian, as Eusebius re-
ports.*

First, by the way, let me observe, tiiat never
any matter of question in the Christian cliurch
was determined with greater solemnity, or more
full authority of the church, than tliis question
concerning circumcision: no less than the Vv'hole
college of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem,
and that Vvitli a decree of the highest sanction ; * It
seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.' Se-
condly, either the case of the Hebrews in particular
was omitted, and no determination concerning
them, whether it were necessary or lawful for them
to be circumcised, or else it was involved in the
decree, and intended to oblige the Jews. If it
was omitted, since the question was concerning
what was essential, (for ' I Paul say unto you, if
ye be circumcised, Christ shall profityou nothing,')
it is very remarkable how the apostles, to gain the
Jews, and to comply with their violent prejudice
in behalf of Moses's law, did for a time tolerate

' Euseb. lib. iv. Lccles. Hist. c. 5

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIXG. 67

their dissent even in what was otherwise essential,
which I doubt not but wns intended as a precedent
for the church to imitate for ever after: but if it
v/as not omitted, either all the multitude of the
Jews, (which St. James, then their bishop, express-
ed by " many myriads :■'■'- ' Thou seest how
many rnvTiads of Jews that believe, and yet are
zealots for the law;' and Eusebius, speakin;!^ of
Justus, says, he was one " of the infinite multitude
of the circumcision, who believed in Jesus,)''t I
say all these did perish, and their believing in
Christ served them to no other ends, but in the
infinity of their torments to upbraid them with
liypocrisy and heresy; or, if they were saved, it
is apparent how merciful God was, and pitiful to
human inflrm.itics, that in. a point of so great con-
cernment did pity their weakness, and pai'don
their errors, and love their good mind, since their
prejudice v/as little less than insuperable, and h.ad
fair probabilities, at least it v/as such as migiit
abuse a wise and good man (and so it did many)
they did err with a good intention. And if I mis-
take not, this consideration St. Paul i urged as a
reason why God forgave hu}\ who was a persecu-
tor of the saints, because he did it ignorantly in
unbelief; that is, he was not convinced in his
undersbtnding, of the truth of the way which he
persecuted ; he in the meanv/lrlle remaining in that
incredulity, not out of malice or ill ends, but the
mistakes of humanity and a pious zeal, therefore
' God had mercy on him.' And so it was in this
great question of circumcision ; here only was the

* Acts xxi. 20.

t " Ex infinita multitudine eoriim qui ex circumcisinne in
Jesum credebant."— Lib. iii, 32. Eccles. Hist.
t 1 Tim. i.

68 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

difilerence, (.he inviiicibilitj of St. Paul's error, aud
the honesty of his lieart caused God so to pardon
him as to bring him to the knowledge of Christ,
which God therefore did because it was necessary,
as an intermediate step. No salvation was con-
sistent with the actual remanency of that error;
but in the question of circumcision, although they,
by consequence, did overthrow the end of Christ's
coming, yet because it was such a consequence,
which they, being hindered by a prejudice not im-
pious, did not perceive, God tolerated them in
their error, till time and a continual dropping of
tiie lessons and dictates apostolical did wear it out.
And then the doctrine put on its apparel, and be-
came clothed with necessity: they in the mean
time so kept to the foundation, that is Jesus Christ
crucified and risen again, tliat although this did
make a violent concussion of it, yet they held fast
with their heart wliat they ignorantly destro3Td
with their tongue, (which Saul before his conver-
sion did not,) that God, upon other titles than an
actual dereliction of their error, did bring them to
salvation.

And in the descent of so many years, I find
not any one anatliema passed by the apostles oi
their successors, upon any of the bishops of Jeru
salem, or the believers of the circumcision ; and
yet it was a point as clearly determined, and of as
great necessity, as any of those questions that at
this day vex and crucify Christendom.

Besides this question, and that of the resurrec
tion, commenced in the churcli of Corinth, and
})romotcd, with some variety of sense, by Hyme-
n3cus and Philctus in Asia; who said that the re-
surrection was past already, I do not rciuember
any otlier heresy named in ScriDturc. but such, as

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 69

were errors of impiety in moral practice ; such as
was particularly, forbidding to marry, and the
heresy of the Nicolaitans, a doctrine that taugiit
the necessity of lust and frequent fornication.

But in all the animadversions against errors,
made by the apostles in the New Testament, no
pious person was condemned, no man that did in-
vincibly err. or with a good intention ; but some-
thing that was amiss in the principle of action,
v;as that which the apjstles did redargue. And
it i? very considerable, that even they of the cir-
cumcision, who in so great numbers did heartily
believe in Christ, and yet most violently retain
circumcision, and v/ithout 'question v/ent to heaven
in great numbers, yet of the number of these very
men, they came deeply under censure, when to
their error they added impiety; so long as it
stood with charity and without human ends and
secular interests, so long it was either innocent
or connived at ; but when they grew covetous,
and for filthy lucre's sake ''aught the same doc-
trine which others did in the simplicity of their
hea^'ts, then they turned heretics, tlien they were
terraed seducers ; and Titus was commanded to
looL: to them, and to silence them ; 'For there are
many that are intractable and vain babblers, se-
ducers of minds, especially they of the circum-
cision, who seduce whole houses, teaching things
that they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.' These
indeed were not to be endured, but to be silenced,
by the conviction of sound doctrine, and to be re-
buked sharply, and avoided.

For heresy is not an error of t-^e understanding,
but an error of the will. And this is clearly in-
sinua.ted in Scripture, in the style whereof faith
and a good life are made one duty, and vice is

70 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

called opposite to faith, and heresj opposed to
holiness and sanctity. So in St. Paul : ' For (saith
he) the end of the commandment is charity out of
a pure heart and a good conscience, and faith un-
feigned ;'* a quibus quod uherrarvMl quidam, from
wliich charity, and purity, and goodness, and sin-
cerity, because some have wandered, they have
turned aside unto vain jangling. And immediately
after, he reckons the oppositions to faith and sound
doctrine, and instances only in vices that stain the
lives of Christians, 'the unjust, the unclean, the
uncharitable, the liar, the perjured person ;' these
are the enemies of i'n^. true doctrine. And there-
fore St. Peter, having given in charge, to add to
our virtue patience, temperance, charity, and the
like, gives this for a reason : 'for if these things be
in you and abound, ye shall be fruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesics Christ.'* So that
knowledge and faith is part of a good life.t And
St. Paul calls faith, or the form of sound words,
* the doctrine that is according to godliness,' 1
Tim. vi. 3. And to believe in the truth, and to
have pleasure in unrighteousness,! are by the
same apostle opposed, and intimates, that piety
and faith is all one thing : faith must be entire and
holy too, or it is not right. It was the heresy of
the Gnosticks, that it was no matter how men

* 1 Tim. i.

t " Quid igitur credulitas vel fides ? Opinor fidelitcr homl
nem Ciirislo credero ; id est, fidelem Deo esse ; hoc est, fide-
iiter Dei mandata servare."

" What then is belief or faith ? It is, in my opinion, faith-
fully to believe in Christ; that is, to be faithful to God: in
other words, faithfully to keep his commandments." — So Sal-
vian.

X ¥.v7i[i;K tm xpiTTia.va>v d-py,cniiiA ; that is, " oUr religion,
or faith ; the whole manner of serving God. — C. de mnima
Trinit. ct Fide Cathol.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. / 1

lived, SO they did but believe aright : which wicked
doctrine Tatianus, a learned Christian, ^id so de-
test, that he fell into a quite contrary ; *' It is of
no consequence what a man believes, but only
what he does."* And thence came the sect of
the Encratites. Both these heresies sprang from
the too nice distinguishing the faith from the pie-
ty and good life of a Christian : they are both but
one duty. However they may be distinguished,
if we speak like philosophers ; they cannot be dis-
tinguished, when we speak like Christians. For
to believe what God hath commanded, is in order
to a good life; and to live well is the product of
that believing, and as proper emanations from it,
as from its proper principle, and as heat is from
the fire. And therefore, in Scripture, they ai-e
used promiscuously in sense, and in expression,
as not only being subjected in the same person,
but also in the same faculty; faith is as truly
seated in the will as in the understanding, and a
good life as merely derives from the understand-
ing as the will. Both of them are matters of choice
and of election, neither of them an effect natural
and invincible or necessary antecedently.! And,
indeed, if we remember that St. Paul reckons
heresy amongst the works of the flesh, and ranks
it with all manner of practical impieties, we shall
easily perceive, that if a man mingles not a vice
with his opinion, if he be innocent in his life,
though deceived in his doctrine, his error is his
misery, not his crime ; it makes him an argument
of weakness and an object of pity, but not a person
sealed up to ruin and reprobation.

* "Non est curandum quid qiiisque credat, id tantum
curandiim est quod quisque faciat."

t "■ Necessaria ut tiant, non necessaria facta."

T2 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

. For as the nature of faith is, so is the nature of
heresy, contraries having the same proportion and
commensuration. Now faith, if it be taken for an
act of the understanding merely, is so far from
being that excellent grace that justifies us, that it
is not good at all, in any kind but naturally, and
makes the understanding better in itself, or pleas-
ing to God, just as strength doth the arm, or
beauty the face, or liealth the body ; these are
natural perfections indeed, and so knowledge and
a true belief is to the understanding. But this
makes us not at all more acceptable to God ; for
then the unlearned were certainly in a damnable
condition, and all good scholars should be saved,
(whereas I am afraid too nmch of the contrary is
true.) But unless faith be made moral by the
mixtures of choice and charity, it is nothing but
a natural perfection, not a grace or a virtue ; and
this is demonstrably proved in this, that by the
confessioii of all men, all of in. rests and persua-
sions in matters of mere belief, invincible ignor-
ance is our excuse if we be deceived, which could
not be, but that neither to believe aright is com-
mendable, nor to believe amiss is reprovable ; but
where both one and the other is voluiitary and
chosen antecedently or consequently, by prime
election or ex post facto, and so comes to be con ♦
sidercd in morality, and is part of a good life or
a bad life respectively. Just so it is in herasy;
if it be a design of ambition and making of a sect,
(so Erasmus expounds St. Paul, aipiruov ctv^pccTrov ;)*
if it be for filthy lucre's sake, as it M^as in r;ome
tiiat were of the circumcision ; if it be of pride

•* " Alieni sunt a veritate qui se obarmant multitu-
dine."— Chryst.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIXG. 73

and love of pre-eminence, as it was in Diotrpphen'^
or out of peevishness and indocibleness of disposi-
tion, or. of a contentious spirit; that is, that their
feet are not shod v/it!i the prepai'ation of the gospel
of peace ; in all these- cases the error is just so
damnable as is its principle, but therefore damna-
ble not of itself, but bj reason of its adherencj.
And if any shall say any other v/ise, it is to say
tliat some men shall be damned when they cannot
help it, perish without their own fault, and be
miserable for ever, because of their unhappiness
to be deceived through their own simplicity and
natural or accidental, but inculpable infirmity.

For it cannot stand with the goodness of God,
who does so know our infirmities, that he pardons
many things in which our wills indeed have the
least share, (but some they have.) but are over-
borne with the violence of an impetuous tempta-
tion ; I say, it is inconsistent with, his goodness
to condemn those who err where the error liath
nothing of the will in it, who therefore cannot re-
pent of their error, because they believe it true,
who therefore cannot make compensation, because
tliey know not that they are tied to dereliction
of it. And although all heretics are in this con-
dition, that is, they believe their errors to be true ;
yet there is a vast difference between them who
believe so out of simplicity, and them who are
given over to believe a lie, as a punishment or an
effect of some other wickedness or impiety. For
all have a concomitant assent to the truth of
what they believe ; and no man can at the same
time believe what he does not believe, but this
assent of the understanding in heretics is caused
not by force of argument,but the argument is made
forcible bv something; that is amiss in his will ;

74 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

and although a heretic may peradventure have a
stronger argument for his error than some true
believer for his right persuasion, yet it is not
considerable how strong his argument is; (because
in a weak understanding, a small motive will jDro-
duce a great persuasion, like gentle physic in a
weak body;) but that whicli here is considerable,
is, what it is that made his argument forcible. If
his invincible and harmless prejudice, if his weak-
ness, if his education, if his mistaking piety, if
any thing that hath no venom, nor a sting in it,
there the heartiness of his persuasion is no sin,
but his misery and his excuse ; but if any thing
that is evil in the principle of his conduct did
incline his understanding, if his opinion did com-
mence upon pride, or is nourished by covetous-
ness, or continues through stupid carelessness, or
increases by pertinacity, or is confirmed by obsti-
nacy, then the innocency of the error is disbanded,
his misery is cliangcd into a crime and begins its
own punishment. But, by the way, I must ob-
serve, tliat when I reckoned obstinacy amongst
those tilings which make a false opinion criminal,
it is to be understood with some discretion and
distinction. For there is an obstinacy of will
which is indeed higlily guilty of misdemeanor;
and when the school makes pertinacity or obsti-
nacy to be the formality of heresy, they say not
true at all, unless it be meant the obstinacy of the
will and choice; and if they do, they speak im-
perfectly and inartificially, this being but one of
the causes that make error become heresy. The
adequate and perfect formality of heresy is what-
soever makes the error voluntary and vicious, as
is clear in Scripture, reckoning covetousness, and
pride, and lust, and whatsoever is vicious, to be

THE LIBERTY OF PllOPIIESYIXG. 75

its causes ; (and in habits or moral changes and
productions, whatever alters the essence of a
habit, or gives it a new formality, is not to be
reckoned the efficient but the form;) but there is
also an obstinacy, (you may call it,) but, indeed,
is nothing but a resolution and confirma.tion of
understanding, which is not in a man's power
honestly to alter ; and it is not all the commands
of humanity that can be argument sufficient to
make a man leav-e believing that for which he thinks
he hath reason, and for which he hath such arrru-
ments as heartily convince him. Now, the persist-
ing in an opinion finalh^, and against all the confi-
dence and imperiousness of human commands,
that makes not this criminal obstinacy, if the
erring person have so mucli humility of will as to
submit to whatever God says, and that no vice in
his will hinders him from believing it. vSo that we
must carefully distin;;uish continuance in opinion
from obstinacy, confidence of understanding from
peevishness of affection, a not being convinced
from a resolution never to be convinced upon hu-
man ends and vicious principles. *• We are ac-
quainted with some persons who are unwilling to
relinquish v/hat they have once believed ; nor can
they be easily convinced, but still persist in re-
taining the notions they have once adopted, though
in the spirit of peace and charity ; in which case
we neither use compulsion nor authority," saith
St, Cyprian.* And he himself was such a one ;
for he persisted in his opinion of rebaptization

* " Scimus quosdam quod serael imbiberint nolle deponere,
nee proposituin suum facile rautare, sed salvo inter collegas
pacis et concordiae vinculo qusedam propria quze apud se
semei sint usurpata retinerc ; qua in re nee nos vim cuiquara
facimus, aut legem damus. — Lib. ii. Ep. 1.

76 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

until death, and yet his obstinacy was not called
criminal, or his error turned to heresy. But to
return.

In this sense it is that a heretic is autoxatakpitoc,
self-condemned, not by an immediate express
sentence of understanding, but by his own act or
fault brought into condemnation. As it is in the
canon law, Notoriiis percrissor clerici is ipso jure
excommunicate, not per senfeniiam latmn ah ho-
minc, but a jure. " A man who strikes a clergy-
man, is excommunicated by his own conscience,
not so much by a public verdict as by right." No
man hath passed sentence from a judgment-seat,
but law hath decreed it by express enactment:
so it is in the case of a heretic. The understand-
ing, which is judge, condemns him not by an
express sentence ; for he errs with as much sim-
plicity in the result, as he had malice in the prin-
ciple ; but there is sententia lata a jure, his will
which is his law that hath condemned him. And
this is gathered from that saying of St. Paul,
2 Tim. iii. 13. ' But evil men and seducers shall
wax worse and worse, deceiving and being de-
ceived.' First they are evil men ; malice and
peevishness i» in their wills ; then they turn here-
tics and seduce others, and while they grow v/orse
and worse, the error is master of their under-
standing; they are deceived themselves, 'given
over to believe a lie,' saith the apostle. They first
play the knave, and then play the fool; they first
sell themselves to the purchase of vain glory or ill
ends, and then they become possessed with a lying
spirit, and believe those things heartily, which if
they were honest they should, with God's grace,
discover and disclaim. So that now we see that
a hearty persuasion in a false article does not

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 77

alwaj^s make the error to be esteemed involun-
tarily ; but then only when it is as innocent in
the principle as it is confident in the present per-
suasion. And such persons who by their ill lives
and vicious actions, or manifest designs (for by
their fruits ye shall know them) give testimony
of such criminal indisposition, so as competent
judges by human and prudent estimate may so
judge them, then they are to be declared heretics,
and avoided. And if this were not true, it were
vain that the apostle commands us to avoid a
heretic : for no external act can pass upon a man
for a crime that is not cognizable.

Now every man that errs, though in a matter
of consequence, so long as the foundation is entire,
cannot be suspected justly guilty of a crime to
give his error a formality of heresy ; for we see
many a good man miserably deceived ; (as we
shall make it appear afterwards ;) and he that is the
best amongst men, certainly hath so much hu-
mility to think he may be easily deceived ; and
twenty to one but he is, in something or other ;
yet, if his error be not voluntary, and part of an
ill life, then because he lives a good life, he is a
good man, and therefore no heretic : no man is a
heretic against his will. And if it be pretended
that every man that is deceived, is therefore proud,
because he does not submit his understanding to
the authority of God or man respectively, and so
his error becomes a heresy ; to this I answer, tliat
there is no Christian man but will submit his
understanding to God, and believe whatsoever he
hath said ; but always provided he knows that
God hath said so, else he must do his duty by a
readiness to obey when he shall know it. Rut
for obedience or humility of the understanding:

78 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

towards men, that is a thing of another considera-
tion, and it must first be made evident that his un-
derstanding must be submitted to men ; and who
those men are, must also be certain, before it will be
adjudged a sin not to submit. But if I mistake not,
Christ's saying, 'Call no man master upon earth,'
is so great a prejudice against this pretence, as I
doubt it will go near whollj to make it invalid.
So that as the worshiping of angels is a humility
indeed, but it is voluntary and a wdllworship to
an ill sense, not to be excused by the excellency
of humility, nor the virtue of religion ; so is the
relying upon the judgment of man an humility
too, but such as comes not under that obedience
of faith which is the duty of every Christian, but
intrenches upon that duty wliich we owe to Christ
as an acknowledgm.ent that he is our great Mas-
ter, and the Prince of the catl^oiic church. But
whether it be or be not, if that be the question,
whether the disagreeing person be to be determined
by the dictates of men, I am sure the dictates of
men must not determine him in that question, but
it must be settled by some higher principle : so
that if of that question the disagreeing person
does opine, or believe, or err bona Jide^ he is not
therefore to be judged a heretic, because he sub-
mits not his understanding ; because, till it be
sufficiently made certain to him that he is bound
to submit, he may innocently and piously disagree ;
and this not submitting is therefore not a crime,
(and so cannot make a heresy,) because without
a crime he may lawfully doubt whether lie be
bound to submit or no, for that is the question.
And if in such questions which have influence,
upon a whole system of theology, a man may
doubt lawfully if he doubts heartily, because the

THE LIBERTY OF TROPHESYING. 79

authority of men being the thing in question,
cannot be the judge of this question, and there-
fore being rejected, or (which is all one) being
questioned, that is, not believed, cannot render
tiie doubting person guilty of pride, and by con-
sequence not of heresy, much more may particular
questions be doubted of, and the authority of men
examined, and yet the doubting person be humble
enough, and therefore no heretic for all this pre-
tence. And it would be considered that humility
is a duty in great ones as well as in idiots.-
And as inferiors must not disagree without reason,
so neither must superiors prescribe to others with-
out sufficient authority, evidence, and necessity
too ; and if rebellion be pride, so is tyranny ; both
may be guilty of pride of understanding, some-
tihics the one in imposing, sometimes the other in
a causeless disagreeing ; but in the inferiors it is
tlien only the w^ant of humility, when the guides
impose or prescribe what God hath also taught,
and then it is the disobeying God's dictates, not
man's, that makes the sin. But then this consider-
ation will also intervene, that as no dictate of
God obliges me to believe it, unless I know it to
be such; so neither will any of the dictates of my
superiors engage my faith, unless I also know, or
have no reason to disbelieve, but tliat they are
warranted to teach them to me, tlierefore, because
God hath taught the same to them ; which if I
once know, or have no reason to think the contra-
ry, if I disagree, my sin is not in resisting human
autliority, but divine. And, therefore, tlie whole
business of submittin;^; our understandino- to human
authority comes to nothing; for either it resolves

♦ Mean or illiterate person.';.

80 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

into the direct duty of submitting to God, or^ if
it be spoken of abstractedly, it is no duty at all.

But this pretence of a necessity of humbling
the understanding, is none of the meanest arts
whereby some persons have invaded and usurped
a power over men's faith and consciences ; and
therefore we shall examine the pretence after-
wards, and try if God hath invested any man, or
company of men, with such a power. In the mean
time, he that submits his understanding to ail that
he knows God hath said, and is ready to submit to
all that he hath said if he but know it, denying
his own affections, and ends, and interests, and
human persuasions, laying them all down at the foot
of his great master, Jesus Christ, that man hath
brought his understanding into subjection, and
every proud thought unto the obedience of Christ;
and this is the obedience of faith, which is the
duty of a Christian.

But to proceed. Besides these heresies noted
in Scripture, the age of the apostles, and that
which followed, was infested with other heresies;
but such as had the same formality and malignity
with the precedent, all of them either such as
taught practical impieties, or denied an article of
the creed. Egesippus, in Eusebius, reckons seven
only prime heresies, that sought to deflower the
purity of the church: that of Simon, that of The-
butes, of Cleobius, of Dositheus, of Gortheus, of
Masbotheus. I suppose Cerinthus to have been
the seventh man, though he express him not : but
of these, except the last, we know no particulars,
but that Egesippus says, they were false Christs,
and that their doctrine was directly against God
and his blessed Son. Menander, also, was the
first of a sect; but he bewitched the people with

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 81

his sorceries. Cerinthus's doctrine pretended
enthusiasm, or a new revelation, and ended in
lust and impious theorems in matter of unclean-
ness. The Ebionites* denied Christ to be the Son
of God, and affirmed him mere man, begot by
natural generation, (by occasion of which and the
importunity of the Asian bishops, St. John wrote
his Gospel,) and taught the observation of Moses's
law. Basilides taught it lawful to renounce the
faith, and take false oaths in time of persecution.
Carpocrates was a very bedlam, half-witch, and
quite mad-man, and practised lust, which he called
the secret operations to overcome the potentates
of the world. Some more there were, but of the
same nature and pest ; not of a nicity in dispute,
not a question of secret philosophy, not of atoms,
and undiscernible propositions, but open defiances
of all faith, of all sobriety, and of all sanctity;
excepting only the doctrine of the Millennaries,
which in the best ages was esteemed no heresy,
but true catholic doctrine, though since it hath
justice done to it, and hath suffered a just con-
demnation.

Hitherto, and in these instances, the church did
esteem and judge of heresies, in proportion to the
rules and characters of faith. For faith being a
doctrine of piety as well as truth, that which was
either destructive of fundamental verity, or of
Christian sanctity was against faith, and if it be
made a sect, was heresy ; if not, it ended in per-
sonal impiety and went no farther. But those
who, as St. Paul says, not only did such things,
but had pleasure in them that do them, and there-
fore taught others to do what they impiously did

* Vide Hilar, lib. i. DeTrin.

82 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

dogmatize, they were heretics both in matter and
form, in doctrine and deportment, towards God,
and towards man, and judicable in both tribu-
nals.

But the Scripture and apostolical sermons, hav-
ing expressed most high indignation against these
masters of impious sects, leaving them under pro-
digious characters, and horrid representments, as
calling them men of corrupt minds, reprobates
concerning the faith, given over to strong delu-
sions, to the belief of a lie^ false apostles, false
prophets, men already condemned, and that by
themselves, anti-Christs, enemies of God; and
heresy itself, a work of the flesh, excluding from
the kingdom of heaven ; left such impressions in
the minds of all their successors, and so much
zeal against such sects, that if any opinion com-
menced in the church not heard of before, it
oftentimes had this ill luck to run the same for-
tune with an old heresy. For because the heretics
did bring in new opinions in matters of great
concernment, every opinion de novo brought in
was liable to the same exception ; and because the
degree of malignity in every error was oftentimes
undiscernible, and most commonly indemonstra-
ble, their zeal was alike against all; and those
ages being full of piety, were fitted to be abused
with an over-active zeal, as wise persons and
learned are with a too much indifferency.

But it came to pass, that the further the succes-
sion went from the apostles, the more forward
men were in numbering heresies, and that upon
slighter and more uncertain grounds. Some foot-
steps of tiiis we shall find, if we consider the sects
that are said to have sprung in the first three
hundred years, and they were quick in their

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. O'^

Springs and falls; fourscore and seven of them are
reckoned. They were indeed reckoned afterward,
and thougli when they were alive, they were not
condemned with as much forwardness, as after
they were dead; yet even then, confidence began
to mingle with opinions less necessary, and mis-
takes in judgment were oftener and more public
than they should have been. But if they were
forward in their censures (as sometimes some of
them were), it is no great wonder they were de-
ceived. For what principle or criterion had tliey
then to judge of heresies, or condemn them, besides
the single dictates or decretals of private bisliops ?
for Scripture was indifferently pretended by all ;
and concerning the meaning of it, Avas the question.
Now there was no general council all that while,
no opportunity for the church to convene; and if
v/e search the communicatory letters of the
bisliops and martyrs in those days, we shall find
but few sentences decretory concerning any
question of faith, or new-sprung opinion. And in
those that did, for aught appears, the persons were
misreported, or their opinions mistaken, or a.t
most, the sentence of condemnation was no more
but this : such a bishop wlio hath had the good
fortune by posterity to be reputed a catholic, did
condemn such a man of such an opinion, and yet
himself erred in as considerable matters, but meet-
ing with better neighbors in his life-time, and a
more charitable posterity, hath his memory pre-
served in honor. It appears plain enough in the
case of Nich-olas, the deacon of Antioch, upop a
mistake of his words whereby he taught to abuse
the flesh, viz. by acts of austerity and self-denial,
and mortification ; some wicked people, that were
glad to be mistaken and abii?.ed into a pleasing

84 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

crime, pretended that he taught them to abuse the
flesh by filthy commixtures and pollutions : this
mistake was transmitted to posterity with a full
cry, and acts afterwards found out to justify an ill
opinion of him. For by St. Jerome's time it grew
out of question, but that he was the vilest of men,
and the worst of heretics :* accusations that, while
the good man lived, were never thought of, for his
daughters were virgins, and his sons lived in holy
celibacy all their lives, and himself lived in chaste
wedlock ; and yet his memory had rotted in per-
petual infamy, had not God (in whose sight the
memory of the saints is precious) preserved it by
the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus,t and from
him of Eusebius and Nicephorus.j: But in the
catalogue* of heretics made by Philastrius, he stands
marked with a black character, as guilty of many
heresies; by which one testimony we may guess
what trust is to be given to those catalogues.
Well, this good man had ill luck to fall into un-
skillful hands at first; but Irenceus, Justin Martyr,
Lactantius (to name no more), had better fortune;
for it being still extant in their writings that they
were of the millennary opinion, Papias before, and
Nepos after, were censured hardly, and the opi-
nion put into the catalogue of heresies ; and yet
these men, never suspected as guilty, but, like the
children of the captivity, walked in the midst of
the flame, and not so much as the smell of fire
passed on them. But the uncertainty of these
things is very memorable in the story of Eusta-
tliius, bishop of Antioch, contesting with Eusebius

* " Nicolaus Antiochenus, omnium immunditiarum condi-
tor, chorosduxitfaemineos." — Ad Ctesiph. Anda^ain: "Iste
Nicolaus Diaconus ita immnndus extitit ut etiara in prassepi
Domini nefas perpetrarit." — Papist, de Fabiano lapso.

t Lib. iii. Stromat. X Lib. iii. c 2G, Hist.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 85

Pamphiliis : Eustathius accused Eusebius for going
about to corrupt the Nicene creed, of uhich slan-
der he then acquitted himself (saith Socrates) ;*
and yet he is not cleared by posterity, for still he
is suspected, and his fame not clear. However,
Eusebius then escaped well ; but, to be quit with
his adversary, he recriminates, and accuses him to
be a favorer of Sabellius, rather than of the
Nicene canons : an imperi^ct accusation, God
knows, when the crime was a suspicion, provable
only by actions capable of divers constructions,
and at the most made but some degrees of proba-
bility, and the fact itself did not consist in any
particular, and therefore was to stand or fall, to be
improved or lessened, according to the will of the
judges, whom in this case Eustathius, by his ill
fortune and a potent adversary, found harsh to-
wards him, insomuch that he was for lieresy de-
posed in the synod of Antioch. And though this
was laid open in the eye of the world, as being
most ready at hand, witli the greatest ease charged
upon every man, and with greatest difficulty ac-
quitted by any man, yet there were other suspi-
cions raised upon him privately, or at least talked
of afterwards, and pretended as causes of his de-
privation, lest the sentence should seem too hard
for the first oftence. And yet, what ihey were no
man could tell, saith the story. But it is observ-
able what Socrates saith, as in excuse of such
proceedings :t • It is the manner among the bhhopSy
when they accuse than that are deposed, they call
them 2vicked, but they jmblhh not the actions of
their imjnety." It might possibly be that the
* Lib. i. c. 23.

t TOWTO Si iTTt TTifJTay ilCC^i<n TXV y.-i.'Vi.l^'^lifJ.i-lOl)} TtCllii Ct

xh; xTiikta.; 6u }.iy.uyt. — Lib. i. C. 24.
8

86 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

bishops did it in tenderness of their reputation :
but yet hardly ; for to punish a person publicly
and highly is a certain declaring the person pu-
nished guilty of a high crime ; and then to conceal
the fault, upon pretence to preserve his reputation,
leaves every man at liberty to conjecture what he
pleaseth, who possibly will believe it worse than
it is, inasmuch as they think his judges so chari-
table as therefore to conceal the fault, lest the
publishing of it should be his greatest punishment,
and the scandal greater than his deprivation.*
However, this course, if it were just in any, was
unsafe in all ; for it might undo more than it could
preserve, and therefore is of more danger than it
can be of charity. It is therefore too probable
that the matter was not very fair, for in public
sentence the acts ought to be public ; but that they
rather pretend heresy to bring their ends about,
shows how easy it is to impute that crime, and
how for\^'ard they are to do it. And tliat they
might and did tlien as easily call heretic as after-
ward, when Vigilius was condemned of heresy,
for saying there v/ere antipodes ; or as the friars
of late did, who suspected Greek and Hebrew of
heresy, and called their professors heretics, and
had like to have put Terence and Demosthenes
into the Index Expurgatorius. Sure enough they
railed at them pro condone; tlierefore, because
they understood them not, and had reason to be-
lieve they would accidentally be enemies to their
reputation among the people.

By this instance, which was a while after the
Nicene council, wliere the acts of the church were
regular, judicial, and orderly, we may guess at

* " Simpliciter patpat vitiiim fortasse pusillurn.

Quod tegitur, majus crcdilur esse malum. " — Martial.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 87

the sentences passed upon heresy, at such times
and in such cases, when their process was more
private and their acts more tumultuary, their in-
formation less certain, and therefore their mistakes
more easy and frequent. And it is remarkable in
the case of the heresy of Montanus, the scene of
whose heresy lay within the first three hundred
years, though it was represented in the catalogues
afterwai'ds ; and possibly the mistake concerning
it is to be put upon the score of Epiphanius, by
whom Montanus and his followers were put into
the catalogue of heretics, for commanding absti-
nence from meats, as if they were unclean and of
themselves unlawful. Now the truth was, Mon-
tanus said no such thing: but commanded fre-
quent abstinence, enjoined dry diet and an ascetic
table, not for conscience' sake, but for discipline ;
and yet, because he did this with too much rigor
and strictness of mandate, the primitive church
misliked it in him, as being too near their error,
who, by a Judaical superstition, abstained froni
meats as from uncleanness. This, by the way,
will much concern them who place too much
sanctity in such rites and acts of discipline ; for
it is an eternal rule, and of never-failing truth,
that such abstinences, if they be obtruded as acts
of original im.mediate duty and sanctity, are un-
lawful and superstitious. If they be for disci-
pline, they may be good, but of no very great profit ;
it is that bodily exercise which St. Paul says pro-
fiteth but little; and just in the same degree the
primitive church esteemed them, for they therefore
reprehended Montanus for urging such abstinences
with too much earnestness, though but in the way
of discipline ; for that it was no more, TertuUian,
who was himself a Montanist, and knew best the

88 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

opinions of his own sect, testifies ; and yet Epipha-
nius, reporting the errors of Montanus, commends
that which Montanus truly and really taught,
and which the primitive church, condemned in
him, and therefore represents that heresy to an-
other sense, and affixes that to Montanus wliich
Epiphanius believed a heresy, and yet which Mou-
tanus did not teach. And this also, among many
other things, lessens my opinion very much of the
integrity or discretion of the old catalogues of
heretics, and much abates my confidence towards
them.

And now that I have mentioned them casually
in passing by, I shall give a short account of them,
for men are much mistaken : some in their opinions
concerning the truth of them, as believing tiiem
to be all true ; some concerning their purpose, as
thinking them sufficient not only to condemn ail
those opinions there called heretical, but to be a
precedent to all ages of the church to be free and
ibrward in calling heretic. But he that considers
the catalogues themselves, as they arc collected
by Epiphanius, Philastrius, and St. Austin, shall
find that many are reckoned for heretics for opi-
nions in matters disputable and undetermined,
and of no consequence ; and that, in these cata-
logues of heretics, there are men nunlbered for
heretics which by every side respectively are ac-
quitted ; so that there is no company of men in
the world that admit these catalogues as good
records or sufficient sentences of condemnation.
For the churches of the reformation, I am certain
they acquit Aerius for denying prayer for the
dead, and the Eustathians for denying invocation
of Saints. And I am partly of opinion, that the
church of Rome is not willing to call the Colly-

THE LIBERTY OF PKOPHESYIXG. 89

vidians heretics for offering a cake to the Virgin
Mary, unless she also will run the hazard of the
same sentence for offering candles to her ; and
that they will be glad with St. Austin (1. vi. De
Haeres. c. 86.) to excuse the Tertullianists* for
picturing God in a visible, corporal representment.
And jet these sects are put in the black book by
Epiphanius, and St. Austin, and Isidore respect-
ively. I remember also that the Osseni are
called heretics, because they refused to worship
towards the east ; and yet in that descent I find
not the malignity of a heresy, nor -any thing
against an article of faith or good manners ; and
it being only in circumstance, it were hard, if they
were otherwise pious men and true believers, to
send them to hell for such a trifle. The Parermc-
neutfe refused to follow men's dictates like sheep,
but would expound Scripture according to the best
evidence themselves could find, and yet were
called heretics, whether they expounded true or
no. The Pauliciani,i for being oilended at crosses,
the Proclians, for saying, in a regenerate man all
his sins were not quite dead, but only curbed and
assuaged, were called heretics, and so condemned,
for ought I know, for affirming that which all
pious men feel in themselves to be too true. And
he that will consider how numerous the catalogues
are, and to what a volume they a,r€ come in their
last collections, to no less than five hundred and
twenty (for so many heresies awl heretics are
reckoned by Prateolus), may think that if a re-
trenchment were justly made of truths, and all im-
pertinences, and all opinions, either still disputable
or less considerable, the number would much dc-

* D. Thorn, i. Contr. Gent. c. 21.

t Enthym. part i. tit. 21. Epinhr^n. licprps. 6i.

90 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

crease ; and therefore that the catalogues are much
amiss, and the name heretic is made a bugbear to
affright people from their belief, or to discounte-
nance the persons of men, and disrepute them,
that their schools may be empty and their disci-
ples few.

So that I shall not need to instance how that
some men were called heretics by Philastrius, for
rejecting the translation of the Seventy, and fol-
lowing the Bible of Aquila, wherein the great
faults mentioned by Philastrius are, that he trans-
lates ;^;o-Tov Qiou not Chustum, but unctum Dei, the
Anointed of God ; and instead of Emanuel, writes
Beits nobisciim, God with us. But this most con-
cerns them of the primitive church, with whom
the translator of Aquila was in great reputation ;
it was supposed he was a greater clerk, and un-
derstood more than ordinary. It may be, so he
did : but whether yea or no, yet since the other
translators, by the confession of Philastrius, when
compelled by urgent necessity, did pass by some
things, if some wise men, or unwise, did follow a
translator who understood the original well (for
so Aquila had learnt amongst the Jews), it was
hard to call men heretics for following his transla-
tion especially since the other Bibles (which were
thought to have in them contradictories, and it
was confessed, had omitted some things) were ex-
cused by necessity ; and the others' necessity of
following Aquila, when tliey had no better, was
not at all considered, nor a less crime than heresy
laid upon their score. Such another was the
heresy of the Quartodecimani ; for the Easterlings
were all proclaimed heretics, for keeping Easter
after the manner of the east; and as Socrates and
Nicephorus report, the bishop of Rome wa^ very

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 91

forward to excommunicate all the bishops of the
lesser Asia, for observing the feast according to
the tradition of their ancestors, tliough they did it
modestly, quietly, and without faction ; and al-
though they pretended, and were as well able to
prove their tradition from St. John, of so observing
it, as the western church could prove their tradi-
tion derivative from St. Peter and St. Paul. If
such things as these make up the catalogues of
heretics (as we see they did), their accounts difter
from the precedents they ought to have followed ;
that is, the censures apostolical ; and therefore are
unsafe precedents for us ; and unless they took
the liberty of using the word heresy in a lower
sense than the world now doth, since the councils
have been forward in pronouncing anathema, and
took it only for a distinct sense, and a differing
persuasion in matters of opinion and minute arti-
cles, we cannot excuse the persons of the men ;
but if they intended the crime of heresy against
those opinions, as they laid them down in their
catalogues, that crime (I say) which is a work of
the flesh, which excludes from the kingdom of
heaven, all that I shall say against them is, that
the causeless curse shall return empty, and no
man is damned the sooner because his enemy cries
'Oh, accursed!' and they that were the judges
and accusers might err as well as the person ac-
cused, and might need as charitable construction
of their opinions and practices as the other. And of
rule this we are sure, they had no warrant from any
of Scripture, or practice apostolical, for driving so
furiously and hastily in such decretory sentences.
But I am willing rather to believe their sense of the
word heresy was more gentle than with us it is, and
for that they might have warrant from Scripture.

92 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

iBut, by the way, I observe that although these
catalogues are a great instance to show that they
whose age. and spirits were far distant from the
apostles, had also other judgments concerning
faith and heresy tlian the apostles had, and the
ages apostolical; yet these catalogues, although
they are reports of heresies in the second and third
ages, are not to be put upon the account of those
ages, nor to be reckoned as an instance of their
judgment; which, although it was in some degrees
more culpable than that of their predecessors, yet
in respect of the following ages it was innocent
and modest. But these catalogues I speak of were
set down according to the sense of the then pre-
sent ages, in which as they in all probability did
differ from the apprehensions of the former centu-
ries, so it is certain there were differing learnings,
other fancies, divers representmcnts and judg-
ments of men, depending upon circumstances,
which the first ages knew and the following ages
did not : and therefore the catalogues were drawn
with some truth, but less certainty, as appears in
their differing about the authors of some heresies,
several opinions imputed to the same, and some
put in the roll of heretics by one, which the other
left out; which to me is an argument that the col-
lectors M^ere determined, not by the sense and
sentences of the three first ages, but by them-
selves, and some circumstances about them, which
to reckon for heretics, which not. And that they
themselves were the prime judges, or perhaps
some in their own age together with them : but
there was not any sufficient external judicatory,
competent to declare heresy, that by any public
or sufficient sentence or acts of court had fur-
nished them with warrant for their cataloi^ues.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 93

And therefore they are no argument sufficient that
the first ages of the church, which certainly were
the best, did much recede from that which I
showed to be the sen«e of the Scripture and the
practice of the apostles ; they all contented them-
selves with the apostles' creed as the rule of the
faith, and therefore were not forward to judge of
heresy but by analogy to their rule of faitli ; and
those catalogues made after these ages are not suf-
ficient arguments that they did otherwise, but
rather of the weakness of some persons, or of the
spirit and genius of the age in which the compilers
lived, in which the device of calling all differing
opinions by the name of heresies, might grow to
be a design to serve ends, and to promote in-
terests, as often as an act of zeal and just indig-
nation against evil persons, destroyers of the faith,
and corrupters of manners.

For whatever private men's opinions were, yet,
till the Nicene council, the rule of faith was entire
in the apostles' creed; and provided they retained
that easily, they broke not the utility of faith how-
ever differing opinions might possibly commence
in such things in which a liberty were better suf-
fered than prohibited with a breach of charity.
And this appears exactly in the question between
St. Cyprian, of Carthage, and Stephen, bishop of
Rome, in which one instance it is easy to see
what was lawful and safe for a wise and good
man, and yet how others began even then, to be
abused by that temptation, which since hath in-
vaded all Christendom. St. Cyprian rebaptized
heretics, and thought he was bound so to do ; calls
a synod in Africa, as being metropolitan, and
confirms his opinions, by the consent of his suf-
fragans and brethren, but still with so much

94 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

modesty, that if any man was of another opinion, he
judged him not, but gave him that liberty that he
desired himself; Stephen, bishop of Rome, grows
angry, excommunicates the bishops of Asia and
Africa, tliat in divers synods had consented to re-
baptization, and, without peace and without cha-
rity, condemns them for heretics. Indeed, here
was the rarest mixture and conjunction of un-
likelihoods that I have observed. Here was error
of opinion with much modesty and sweetness of
temper on one side ; and on the other, an over-
active and impetuous zeal to attest a truth. It uses
not to be so, for error usually is supported with
confidence, and truth suppressed and discounte-
nanced by indifferency. But that it might appear
tliat the error was not tlie sin but the uncharita-
bleness, Stephen was accounted a zealous and
furious person, and St. Cyprian,* though deceived,
yet a very good man, and of great sanctity. For
although every error is to be opposed, jat accord-
ing to the variety of errors so is there variety of
proceedings. If it be against faith, that is, a de-
struction of any part of the foundation, it is with
zeal to be resisted ; and we have for it an apos-
tolical warrant, ' Contend earnestly for tlie faith :'
but then, as these things recede farther from the
foundation, our certainty is the less, and their ne-
cessity not so much ; and therefore it were very
fit that our confidence should be according to our
evidence, and our zeal according to our confi-
dence, and our confidence should then be the rule
of our communion; and the lightness of an arti-
cle should be considered with the weight of a
precept of charity. And therefore, there are some

* Vid. St. Aug. lib. ii. c. G. De Baptis. contra Donat.

THE LIBERfY OF rROPlIESYING. 95

errors to be reproved, rather by a private friend
than a public censure, and the persons of the men
not avoided, but admonished, and their doctrine
rejected, not their communion ; few opinions are
of that malignity which are to be rejected with
the same exterminating spirit, and confidence of
aversation, with which the first teachers of Chris-
tianity condemned Ebion, Manes, and Cerinthus ;
and in the condemnation of heretics, the personal
iniquity is more considerable than the obliquity
of the doctrine, not for tlie rejection of the article,
but for censuring the persons ; and therefore it is
the piety of the man that excused St. Cyprian,
which is a certain argument that it is not the opi-
nion, but the impiety that condemns and makes
the heretic. And this was it which Vincentius
Lirinensis said, in this very case of St. Cyprian ;
*' Strange as it may appear, we judge the catholic
authors and the lieretics that followed, to be of
one and the same opinion. We excuse the teach-
ers, and condemn the scliolars. They who wrote
the books are the inheritors of heaven, while the
defenders of tliese very books are thrust down to
hell.""- Which saying, if we confront against tlie
saying of Salvian, condemning the first authors of
the Arian sect, and acquitting the followers, we
are taught by these two wise men, that an error is
not it that sends a man to hell, but he that begins
the heresy, and is the author of the sect, is the
man marked out to ruin ; and his followers es-
caped, when the hcresiarch commenced the error
upon pride and ambition, and his followers went

* " Unius et ejnsdem opinionis (mirurn videri potest) judi-
camus authores catholicos, et sequaces hapreticos. Excusa-
mus magistros, et condcmnamus scholastico:;. Qui scripserunt
libros sunt haeredes creli, quorum librorum defensores detru-
duntur ad infernum." — Adv. Haeici. c. ii.

96 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

after liiin in simplicity of their heart ; and so it
was most commoulj; but on the contrary, when
the first man in the opinion was honestly and in-
vincibly deceived, as St. Cyprian was, and that
his scholars, to mainta.in their credit, or their ends
maintained the opinion, not for the excellency of
the reason persuading, but for the benefit and ac-
cruments, or peevishness, as did the Donatists,
who, as St. Austin said of them, indulged them-
selves in their lusts, upon the supposed authority
of Cyprian ; then the scholars are the heretics,
and the master is a catholic. For his error is not
the heresy formally, and an erring person may be
a catholic. A wicked person in his error becomes
heretic, when the good man in the same error shall
have all the rewards of faith. For whatever an ill
man believes, if he therefore believe it because it
serves his own ends, be his belief true or false,
the man hath an heretical mind ; for to serve his
own ends, his mind is prepared to believe a lie.
But a good man, that believes what according to
his light, and upon the use of his moral industry
he thinks true, whether he hits upon the right or
no, because he hath a mind desirous of truth, and
prepared to believe every truth, is therefore ac-
ceptable to God ; because nothing hindered him
from it but what he could not lielp, his misery and
his w^eakness, which being imperfections merely
natural, which God never punishes, he stands fair
for a blessing of his morality, which God always
accepts. So that now, if Stephen had foUow^ed
the example of God Almiglity, or retained but the/
same peaceable spirit which his brother of Car-
thage did, he might, vAih more advantage to truth,
and reputation both of wisdom and piety, have
done hlo duty in attesting what he believed to be

THE LIBERTY OF rROrHESYlNG. 97

true; for we are as much bound to be zealous
pursuers of peace, as earnest contenders for the
faith. I am sure, more earnest we ought to be for
the peace of the church, tJian for an article which
is not of the faith, as this question of rehaptiza-
tion was not ; for St. C}^rian died in belief against
it, and yet was a catholic, and a martyr for the
Christian faith.

The sum is this, St. Cyprian did right in a
wrong cause (as it hath been since judged); and
Stephen did ill in a good cause. As far, then, as
piety and charity is to be preferred before a true
opinion, so far is St. Cyprian's practice a better
precedent for us, and an example of primitive
sanctity, than the zeal and indiscretion of Stephen ;
St. Cyprian had not learned to forbid to any one
a liberty of prophesying or interpretation, if he
transgressed not the foundation of faith and the
creed of the apostles.

Well, thus it wa^, and thus it ought to be, in
the first ages, the faith of Christendom rested still
upon the same foundation, and the judgments of
heresies were accordingly, or were amiss ; but the
first great violation of this truth was, when ge-
neral councils came in, and the symbols were
enlarged, and new articles were made as much of
necessity to be believed as the creed of the apos-
tles, and damnation threatened to them that did
dissent; and at last the creeds multiplied in
number, and in articles, and tiie liberty of pro-
phesying began to be something restrained.

And this was of so much the more force and
efficacy, because it began upon great reason, and
in the first instance, witli success good enough.
For I am much pleased with the enlarging of the
creed, which the council of Nice made, because
9

98 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

they enlarged it to my sense ; but I am not sure
that others are satisfied with it; while we look
upon the article they did determine, we see all
things well enough ; but there are some wise per-
sonages consider it in all circumstances, and think
the church had been more happy if she had not
been in some sense constrained to alter the
simplicity of her faith, and make it more curious
and articulate, so much that he had need be a
subtle man to understand the very words of the
new determinations.

For the first Alexander, bishop of Alexandria,
in the presence of his clergy, entreats somewhat
more curiously of the secret of the mysterious
Trinity and Unity; so curiously, that Arius* (who
was a sophister too subtle as it afterward appeared)
misunderstood him ; and thought he intended to
bring in the heresy of Sabellius. For while he
taught the unity of the Trinity, either he did it so
inartificially or so intricately, that Arius thought
he did not distinguish the persons, when the
bishop intended only the unity of nature. Against
this Arius furiously drives ; and to confute
Sabellius, and in him (as he thought) the bishop,
distinguishes the natures too, and so to secure the
article of the Trinity, destroys the Unity. It was
the first time the question was disputed in the
world; and in such mysterious niceties, possibly
every wise man may understand something, but
few can understand all, and therefore suspect what
they understand not, and are furiously zealous for
that part of it which they do perceive. Well, it
happened in these as always in such cases, in
things men understand not they are most impetu-

* Socra. lib. i. c. 8.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 99

ous; and because suspicion is a thing 'infinite in
degrees, for it hath nothing to determine it, a
suspicious person is ever most violent ; for his fears
are worse than the thing feared, because the thing is
limited, but his fears are not ; so that upon this
grew contentions on both sides, and tumults,
railing and reviling each other;* and then the
laitj -were drawn into parts, ancf the Meletians
abetted the wrong part, and the right part, fearing
to be overborne, did any thing that was next at
hand to secure itself. Now, then, they that lived
in that age, that understood the men, that saw
how quiet the church was before this stir, how
miserably rent now, what little benefit from the
question, what schism about it, gave other censures
of the business than we since have done, who only
look upon the article determined with truth and
approbation of the church generally since that
time. But the epistle of Constantine to Alexander
and Arius,t tells the truth, and chides them both
for commencing the question; Alexander for
broaching it, Arius for taking it up: and although
this be true, that it had been better for the church
it never had begun, yet, being begun, what is to
be done in it ? Of this, also, in that admirable
epistle, we have the emperor's judgment (I sup-
pose not without the advice and privity of Hosius,
bishop of Corduba, whom the emperor loved and
trusted much, and employed in the delivery of the
letters); for first he calls it, " a certain vain piece
of a question, ill begun and more unadvisedly
published ; a question which no law or ecclesiastical
canon defineth; a fruitless contention, the product
of idle brains ; a matter so nice, so obscure, so

* Id. lib. i. c. 6. t Cap. 7.

100 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

intricate, that it was neither to be explicated by
the clergy, nor understood by the people ; a dispute
of words ; a doctrine inexplicable, but most dan-
gerous when taught, lest it introduce discord or
blasphemy ; and therefore, the objector was rash,
and the answer unadvised ; for it concerned not
the substance of faith, or the worship of God, noi
any chief commandment of Scripture, and there-

, fore, why should it be the matter of discord?
For though the matter be grave ; yet, because
neither necessary nor explicable, the contention ia
trifling and toyish. And therefore, as the phi
losophers of the same sect, though differing in
explication of an opinion, yet more love for the
unity of their profession, than disagree for the
difference of opinion ; so should Christians, be-
lievino; in the same God, retainino; the same faith,

• having the same hopes, opposed by the same ene-
mies, not fall at variance upon such disputes,
considering our understandings are not all alike,
and therefore, neither can our opinions in such
mysterious articles: so that the matter being of
no gi-eat importance, but vain, and a toy, in
respect of the excellent blessings of peace and
charity, it were good that Alexander and Arius
should leave contending, keep their opinions to
themselves, ask each other forgiveness, and give
mutual toleration." This is the substance of
Constantine's letter, and it contains in it much
reason, if he did not undervalue the question ; but
it seems it was not then thought a question of faith,
but of nicety of dispute; they both did believe
one God, and the Holy Trinity. Now, then, that
he afterward called the Nicene council, it was
upon occasion of the vileness of the men of the
Arian part, their eternal discord and pertinacious

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 101

wrangling, and to bring peace into the church;
tliat was the necessity ; and in order to it was the
determination of the article. But for the article
itself, the letter declares what opinion he had of
that, and this letter was by Socrates called "a.
wonderful exhortation, full of grace and sober
counsels;" and such as Hosius himself, who was
the messenger, pressed with all earnestness, with
all the skill and authority he had.

I know the opinion the world had of the article
afterwards, is quite differing from this censure
given of it before; and therefore they have put it
into the creed (I suppose) to bring the world to
unity, and to prevent sedition in this question,
and the accidental blasphemies, which were oc-
casioned by their curious talkings of such secret
mysteries, and by their illiterate resolutions. But
although the article was determined with an ex-
cellent spirit, and we all, with much reason pro-
fess to believe it; yet it is another consideration,
whether or no it might not have been better de-
termined, if with more simplicity; and another
yet, whether or no, since many of the bishops who
did believe this thing yet did not like the nicety
and curiosity of expressing it, it had not been
more agreeable to the practice of the apostles, to
have made a determination of the article by way
of exposition of the apostles', creed, and to have
left this in a rescript for record to all posterity,
and not to have enlarged the creed with it ; for
since it was an explication of an article of the
creed of the apostles, as sermons are of places of
Scripture, it was thought by some, that Scripture
might, with good profit and great truth, be ex-
pounded, and yet the expositions not put into the
canon, or go for vScripture, but that left still in the
9*

102 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

naked original simplicity; and so much the rather,
since that explication was further from the foun-
dation, and though most certainly true, yet not
penned by so infallible a spirit, as was that of the
apostles, and therefore not with so much evidence
as certainty. And if they had pleased, they might
have made use of an admirable precedent to this
and many other great and good purposes; no less
than of the blessed apostles, whose symbol they
might have imitated with as much simplicity as
they did the expressions of Scripture when tliey
first composed it. For it is most considerable,
that although, in reason, every clause in the creed
should be clear, and so inopportune and unapt to
variety of interpretation, that there might be no
place left for several senses or variety of exposi-
tions ; jci, when they thought fit to insert some
mysteries into the creed, which in Scripture were
expressed in so mysterious words, that the last
and most explicit sense would still be latent, yet
they who (if ever any did) understood all the
senses and secrets of it, thouglit it not fit to use
any words but the words of vScripture particu-
larly in the articles of Christ's descending into
hell, and sitting at the right hand of God, to show
us that those creeds are best which keep tlie very-
words of Scripture; and that faith is best which
hath greatest simplicity ; and that it is better, in
all cases, humbly to submit, than curiously to in-
quire and pry into the mystery under the cloud,
and to hazard our faitli by improving our know-
ledge :' if the Nicene fathers had done so too, pos-
sibly the churcli never would have repented it.

And indeed the experience the church had af-
terwards, showed that the bishops and priests
v/ere not ^^atisfied in all circumstances, nor the

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 105

schism appeased, nor the persons agreed, nor the
canons accepted, nor the article understood, nor
any thing right, but when they were overborne
with authority, which authority, when the scales
turned, did the same service and promotion to the
contrary.

But it is considerable that it was not the ar-
ticle or the thing itself that troubled the disagree-
ing persons, but the manner of representing it ;
for the five dissenters, Euscbius of Nicomedia,
Theognis, Maris, Theonas, and Secundus, be-
lieved Christ to be very God of very God ; but the
clause of ^ocya-zoc they derided, as being persuad-
ed by their logic that he v/as neither of the sub-
stance of the Father, by division, as a piece of
a lump, nor derivation, as children from tlieir
parents, nor by production, as buds from trees;
and nobody could tell them any other way at that
time, and that made the fire to burn still. And tl^.iit
was it I said; if the article had been with more
simplicity and less nicety determined, charity
would have gained more, and faith would have
lost nothing. And we shall find tlie wisest of
them all, for so Eusebius Pamphilus* was esteem-
ed, published a creed or confession in the synod ;
and though he and all the rest believed that great
mystery of godliness, ' God manifested in the
flesh,' yet he was not fully satisfied ; nor so soon
of the clause of ' one substance,' till he had done
a little violence to his own understanding ; for
even when he had subscribed to the clause ^f
* one substance,' he does it with a protestation,
that " heretofore he had never been acquainted,
nor accustomed himself to such speeches. And

* Vide Sozomen, lib. ii. c. 13,

104 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the sense of the word was either so ambiguous, or
their meaning so uncertain, that Andreas Fricius*
does, with some probability, dispute that the Ni-
cene fathers, by ofj^oovo-io^, did mean likeness to the
Father, not unity of essence.^ Sylva, iv. c. !►
And it was so well understood by personages dis-
interested, that when Anus and Euzoius had con-
fessed Christ to be Deus verbum^ without inserting
the clause of ' one substance,' the emperor, by his
letter, approved of his faith, and restored liim to
his country and office, and the communion of the
church. And a long time after althougli tlie ar-
ticle was believed with nicety enough,! J^^ when
they added more words still to the mystery, and
brought in the word vmcrTAaig, (hypostasis) saying
there were three hypostases in the Holy Trinity,
it was so long before it could be understood, tliat
it was believed therefore, because they would not
oppose their superiors, or disturb the peace of the
church in things which they thought could not
be understood: insomuch that St. Jerome writ to
Damascus ; *' Pray determine, for I shall not hesi-
tate to speak of three hypostases, if you command
me :" and again: "I implore thee, by the Savior
of the world and the United Trinity, that thou
wouldst authorize me, by thy letters, either to
speak or to be silent on the subject of the hypos-
tases."^

* Socrat. Hb. i. cap. 26.

t " Patris similitudinem, non essentiae unitatem."

X "It was no injudicious application that some one made
of the saying of Ariston, the philosopher, to the nice expo-
sition of this mystery ; ' Black hellebore cleanses and heals,
if it be taken in a state of consistence ; but when bruised
and broken small, it suffocates.' "

§ " Discerne, si placet, obsecro ; non timebo tres hyposta-
53es dicere si jubetis. — Obtestor beatitndinem tuam per eru-

THE LIBER'JY OF PROPHESYING. 105

But without all questions, the fathers deter-
mined the question with much truth; though I
cannot say the arguments upon which thej built
their decrees were so good as the conclusion itself
was certain ; but that whicii in this case is consi-
derable, is, whether or no thev did well in putting
a curse to the foot of their decree, and the decree
itself into the symbol, as if it had been of tiie same
necessity. For the curse, Eusebius Pamphilus
could hardly find in his heart to subscribe ; at last
he did ; but with this clause, that he subscribed it
because the form of curse did only '• forbid men
to acquaint themselves with foreign speeches and
unwritten languages," whereby confusion and dis-
cord is brought into the church. So that it was
not so much a magisterial high assertion of the
article, as an endeavor to secure the peace of the
church. And to the same purpose, for aught I
know, the fathers composed a form of confession,
nut as a prescript rule of faith, to build the hopes
of our salvation on, but as a tessera (mark) of that
communion, which by public authority v,as there-
fore established upon those ai-ticles because the ar-
ticles were true, though not of prime necessity,
and because that unity of confession was judged,
as things then stood, the best preserver of the unity
of minds.

But I shall observe this, that although the Ni-
cene fathers, in that case, at that time, and in that
conjuncture of circumstances, did well (and y(tt
their approbation is made by after ages ex post
facto), yet, if this precedent had been followed
by all councils (and certainly they had equal

clfixum mundi Salutem, per o/mocvtrnv Trinitatem, ut mihi
epistolis tuis, sive tacendarum sive dicendarum hypostaseon
detur authcritas."

106 THE SACRED CLi^SSIC'S.

power, if tliey had thought it equally reasonable),
and that they had put all their decrees into the
creedj as some have done since, to what a volume
had the creed by this time swelled ! and all the
house had run into foundation, nothing left for
superstructures. But that they did not, it appears
first, that since they thought all their decrees true,
yet they did not think them all necessary, at least
not in that degree ; and that they published such
decrees, they did it declarativcly, not imperative-
ly ; as doctors in their chairs, not masters of other
men's faith and consciences. Secondly, and yet
there is some more modesty or wariness, or neces-
sity (what shall I call it ?) than this comes to :
for why are not all controversies determined ? but
even when general assemblies of prelates have
been, some controversies that have been very vexa-
tious, have been pretermitted, and others of less
consequence have been determined. Why did
never any general council condemn, in express sen-
tence, the Pelagian heresy, that great pest, that sub-
tle infection of Christendom? and yet divers ge-
neral councils did assemble while the heresy was in
the world. Both these cases, in several degrees,
leave men in their liberty of believing and prophe-
sying. The latter proclaims, that all controversies
cannot be determined to sufficient purposes, and the
first declares, that those that are, are not all of them
matters of faith, and themselves are not so secure
but they may be deceived ; and therefore possibly,
it were betier it were let alone; for if the latter
leaves them divided in their opinions, yet their
communions, and therefore probably their chari-
ties, are not divided ; but the former divides their
communions, and hinders their interest , and yet
for auglit is certain, the accused person is the

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 107

better catholic. And yet after all this, it is not
safety enough to say, let the council or prelates
determine articles warily, seldom, with great cau-
tion and with much sv/eetness and modesty ; for
though this be better than to do it rashly, fre-
quently, and furiously, yet if we once transgress
the bounds set us by the apostles in their creed,
and not only preach other truths, but determine
them magisterially as well as exegetically, al-
though there be no error in the subject-matter
(as in Nice there was none), yet if the next ages
say they will determine another article, with as
much care and caution, and pretend as great a
necessity, tiiere is no hindering them but by giving
reasons against it, and so, like enough they might
have done ag;ainst the decreeino; the article at
Nice ; yet that is not sufficient; for since the au-
thority of the Nicene council hath grown to the
height of a mountainous prejudice against him
that should say it was ill done, the same reason
and the same necessity may be pretended by any
age and in any council, and they think themselves
warranted, by the great precedent at Nice, to pro-
ceed as peremptorily as they did ; but then, if any
other assembly of learned men may possibly be
deceived, were it not better they should spare the
labor, than that they should, with so great pomp
and solemnities, engage men's persuasions, and
determine an article which after ages must re-
scind ! For therefore, most certainly in their own
age, the point, with safety of faith and salvation,
might have been disputed and disbelieved; and
that many men's faiths have been tied up by
acts and decrees of councils, for those articles
in which the next age did see a liberty had better
been preserved, because an error was determiuedj

108 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

we shall afterwards receive a more certain ac-
count.

And therefore the council of Nice did well, and
Constantinople did well; so did Ephesus and
Chalcedon; but it is because the articles were
truly determined (for that is the part of my be-
lief) : but who is sure it should be so beforehand,
and whether the points there determined were ne-
cessary or no to be believed or to be determined.
If peace had been concerned in it, through the fac-
tion and division of the parties, I suppose the
judgment of Constantino, the emperor, and the
famous Hosius of Corduba, is sufficient to instruct
us ; whose authority I rather urge than reasons,
because it is a prejudice and not a reason I am to
contend against.

So that such determination and publishing of
confessions, with authority of prince and bishop,
are sometimes of very good use for the peace of
the cliurch ; and they are good also to determine
the judgment of indilFerent persons, whose reasons
of either side are not too great to weigh down the
probability of that authority ; but for persons of
confident and imperious understiindings, they on
whose side the determination is, are armed M'ith a
prejudice against the other, and with a weapon to
affront them, but with no more to convince them ;
and they against whom the decision is, do the
more readily betake themselves to the defensive,
and are engaged upon contestation and public en-
mities, for such articles which either might safely
have been unknown, or with much charity dis-
puted. Therefore the Nicene council, although it
have the advantage of an acquired and prescribing
authority, yet it must not become a precedent to
others, lest the inconveniences of multiplying

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 109

more articles, upon as gi'eat pretence of reason as
then, make the act of the Nicene fathers, in strait-
ening prophesying, and enlarging the creed, be-
come accidentally an inconvenience. The first
restraint, although, if it had been complained of,
might possibly have been better considered of;
yet the inconvenience is not visible, till it conies by
way of precedent to usher in more. It is like an
arbitrary power, which, although by the same
reason it take sixpence from the subject it may
take a hundred pounds, and then a thousand, and
then ail, yet so long as it is v/ithin the first bounds,
the inconvenience is not so great; but when it
comes to be a precedent or argument for more, then
tlie first may justly be complained of, as having in
it that reason in the principle which brought the
inconvenience in the sequel ; and we have seen
very ill consequences from innocent beginnings.

And the inconveniences which might possibly
arise from this precedent, those wise personages
also did foresee ; and therefore, although they
took liberty in Nice to add some articles, or at
least more explicitly to declare the first creed, yet
they then would have all the world to rest upon
that, and go no farther, as believing tliat to be
sufiicient. St. Athanasius declares their opi-
nion :* " That faith, which those fathers there con-
fessed, was sufiicient for tlie refutation of all
impiety, and the establishment of all faith in
Christ and true religion." And therefore there
was a famous epistle written by Zeno the emperor,
called the EVarwov,! or the Epistle of Reconcilia-

* "^H yAf> ev AVm TTApA TQHV TrdLTipSOV KATX Tit? "S-S/atJ ypctpAC

ofjio>.cy»^ilo-SL TTiTTig, A^TetfiZiig stti Trpc; otvctrpoTniv fxvi ttathc
cLtTijiuAc, a-va-TAa-iv J'l ni; ms-i/deict: iv XpKJ-rco TTis-r'ix;. — Epist. ail
Epict.
t Eva^. lib. iii. c. U.
10

110 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

tion, in which all disagreeing interests are en-
treated to agree in the Nicene symbol; and a
promise made upon that condition, to communi-
cate with all other sects ; adding, withal, that the
church should never receive any other symbol than
that which was composed by the Nicene fathers.
And however Honorius was condemned for a
Monothelite, yet, in one of the epistles which the
sixth synod alleged against him (viz. the second),
he gave them counsel that would have done the
church as much service as the determination of the
article did ; for he advised them not to be curious
in their disputings, nor dogmatical in their deter-
minations about that question ; and because the
church was not used to dispute in that question, it
were better to presence the simplicity of faith, than
to ensnare men's consciences by a new article.
And when the emperor Constantius was, by his
faction, engaged in a contrary practice, the incon-
venience and unreasonableness was so great, that a
prudent heathen observed and noted it in this cha-
racter of Constantius, " That he mixed the Chris-
tian religion, pure and simple in itself, with a
weak and foolish superstition, perplexing to exa-
mine, but useless to contrive ; and excited dis-
sensions which were widely diffused, and which
were maintained with a war of words, while he
endeavored to regulate every sacred rite by his
own will."''

And yet men are more led by example than
either by reason or by precept ; for in the council
of Constantinople one article, wholly new, was

* " Christianam religionem absolutam el siraplicern anili
superstitione confudit. In qua scrutanda perplexius quam in
componenda jsratius, excitavit dissidia quae progressa fusius
alnit concertatione verboruni, du»n ritiaa oinnem ad suum-
trahere conatur arbitrium."

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. Ill

added ; viz. "I believe one baptism for the remis-
sion of sins :" and then, again, they were so
confident that that confession of faith was so ab-
solutely entire, and that no man ever after should
need to add any thing to the integrity of faith,
that the fathers of the council of Ephesus pro-
nounced anathema to all those that should add
any thing to the creed of Constantinople. And
yet. for all this, the church of Rome, in a synod
at Gentiily, added the clause of " Filioque" to
the article of the procession of the Holy Ghost ;
and what they have done since all the world
knows. All men were persuaded that it was most
reasonable the limits of faith should be no more
enlarged ; but yet they enlarged it themselves,
and bound others from doing it; like an intempe-
rate father, who, because he knows he does ill
himself, enjoins temperance to his son but con-
tinues to be intemperate himself.

But now, if I should be questioned concerning
the symbol of Athanasius (for we see the Nicene
symbol was the father of many more, some twelve
or thirteen symbols in the space of a hundred
years), I confess I cannot see that moderate sen-
tence and gentleness of charity in his preface and
conclusion, as there was in the Nicene creed.
Nothing there but damnation and perishins: ever-
lastingly, unless the article of the Triiiity !)e
believed, as it is there, with curiosity and mi-
nute particularities, explained. Indeed, Athana-
sius had been soundly vexed on one side, and much
cried up c the other ; and therefore it is not so
much wonder for him to be so decretory and severe
in his censure : for nothino- could more ascertain
his friends to kim, and disrepute his enemies, than
the belief of that damnatory appendix; but that

112 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

does not justify the thing. For the articles them-
selves, I am most heartily persuaded of the truth
of them, and yet I dare not say, all that are not
so are irrevocably damned, because without this
symbol the faith of the apostles' creed is entire,
and he that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; that is, he that believeth such a belief as
is sufficient disposition to be baptized, that faith
with the sacrament is sufficient for heaven. Now
the apostles' creed does one ; why, therefore, doth
not both entitle us to the promise ? Besides if it
were considered concerning Athanasius's creed,
how many people understand it not, how contrary
to natural reason it seems, how little the Scrip-
ture* says of those curiosities of explication, and
how tradition was not clear on his side for the ar-
ticle itself, much less for those forms and minutes;
Ijow himself is put to make an ansv/er, and ex-
cuse, for the fatherst speaking in favor of the
Arians, at least so seemingly that the Arians ap-
pealed to them for trial, and the offer was declined,
and after all this, that the Nicene creed itself
went not so far, neither in article, nor anathema,
nor explication ; it had not been amiss if tlie final
judgment had been left to Jesus Christ, for he is
appointed Judge of all the world, and he shall
judge the people righteously, for he knows every
truth, the degree of every necessity, and all ex-
cuses that do lessen or take away the nature or

* Vide Hosium de Author. S, Scrip, lib. iii. p. 53, et Gor-
don. Huntlaeum. torn. i. controv. i. de Verbo Dei, cap. 19.

t Vide Grelser. et Tanner, in colloq. Ratisbon. Eusebium
fuisse Arianum ait Perron, lib. iii. cap. 2, contra Jacobum
Regfem. Idem ait Originem negasse Divinitatem Fiiii et
Spir. S. lib. ii. c. 7, de Euchar. contra Duplessis. Idem,
cap. 5, observ. 4, ait, Irenreum talia dixisse qu£e qui hodie
diceret, pro Ariano reputaretur. Vide etiam Fisher, in. resp.
ad 9 Quasst. Jacobi Reg. et Epiphan. ia Hseres. 65.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 113

malice of a crime ; all which I think Athanasius,
though a very good man, did not know so well as
to warrant such a sentence. And put case, the
heresy there condemned be damnable (as it is
damnable enough), yet a man may maintain an
opinion that is in itself damnable and yet he, not
knowing it so, and being invincibly led into it,
may go to heaven ; his opinion shall burn and him-
self be saved. But, however, I find no opinions
in Scripture called damnable but what are impious
in their effect upon the life, or directly destruc-
tive of the faith or the body of Christianity ; such
of which St Peter speaks ;* ' bringing in damnable
heresies, even denvin2;the Lord that bought tliem,
these are the false prophets, who out of covetous-
ness make merchandize of you through cozening
words.' Such as these are truly heresies, and
such as these are certainly damnable. But be-
cause there are no degrees either of truth or
falsehood, every true proposition being alike true,
that an error is more or less damnable, is not told
us in Scripture, but is determined by the man
and his manners, by circumstance and accidents ;
and therefore the censure in the preface and end
are arguments of his zeal and strength of his per-
suasion; but they are extrinsical and accidental
to the articles, and might as well have been spared.
And indeed, to me it seems very hard to put un-
charitableness into the creed, and so to make it
become as an article of faith, though perhaps this
very tl/mg v/as no faith of Athanasius,! who, if we
may belie-'/e Aquinas, made this manifestation of
faith, non per modum symholi, sed per modum doc-
trinse; that is, if 1 understood him ' ■;^!it, not with

* 2Pet. ii. 1.

t D. Tho. 222e. q. i. artic. 1. ad. 3.
IC*

114 THE SACRED CLASSICS.'

a purpose to impose it upon others, but with confi-
dence to declare his own belief; and that it was
prescribed to others as a creed, was the act of the
bishops of Rome ; so he said ; nay, possibly it was
none of his. So said the patriarch of Constanti-
nople, Meletius, about one hundred and thirty
years since, in his epistle to John Douza : " We
do not scruple plainly to protest that the creed is
falsely ascribed to Athanasius, which was cor-
rupted by the Roman pontiffs."* And it is more
than probable that he said true, because this creed
was written originally in Latin, which in all reason
Athanasius did not, and it was translated into
Greek; it being apparent that the Latin copy is
but one, but the Greek is various, there being
three editions, or translations rather, expressed by
Genebrard, lib. iii. de Trinit. But in this parti-
cular, who list may better satisfy himself in a
disputation Be Symholi Athanasii, printed at
Wertzburg, 1590, supposed to be written by Ser-
rarius or Clencherus.

And yet I must observe, that this symbol of
Athanasius, and that other of Nice, offer not at
any new articles ; they only pretend to a further
explication of the articles apostolical; which is a
certain confirmation that they did not believe more
articles to be of belief necessary to salvation ; if
they intended these further explications to be as
necessary as the dogmatical articles of the apostles'
creed, 1 know not how to answer all that may be
objected against that; but the advantage that I
shall gather from their not proceeding to new
matters, is laid out ready for me in the words of

* " Athanasio falso adscriptum symbolum cum pontificum
Rom. appendice ilia adulteralum, luce lucidius contesta-
mur."

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 115

Athanasius, saying of this creed, ''This is the
catholic faith;" and if his authority be good, or
xhis saying ti'ue, or he the author, then no man can
say of any other article, that it is a part of the
catholic faith, or that the catholic faith can l)e en-
larged beyond the contents of that symbol ; and
therefore it is a strange boldness in the church of
Rome,-'- first to add twelve new articles, and then
•to add the appendix of Athanasius to the end of
them, " This is the catholic faith, without which
no man can be saved."

But so great an example of so excellent a man
hath been either mistaken or followed with too
much greediness; for we see all the world in
factions, all damning one another; each party
damned by all the rest; and there is no disagree-
ing in opinion from any man that is in love with
his own opinion, but damnation presently to all
that disagree. A ceremony and a rite hath caused
several churches to excommunicate each other ; as
in the matter of the Saturday fast and keeping
Easter. But what the spirits of men are when
they are exasperated in a question and difference
of religion, as they call it, though the thing itself
may be most inconsiderable, is very evident in
that request of Pope Innocent the Third, desiring
of the Greeks (but reasonably a man would think),
that they would not so much hate the Roman
manner of consecrating in unleavened bread, as
to wash and scrape, and pare the altars, after a
Roman priest had consecrated. Nothing more
furious than a mistaken zeal, and the actions of a
scrupulous and abused conscience. When men
think every thing to be their faith and their reli-

* Bulla Pii quai'ti supra forma juramenti professionis fidei,
in fin. Cone. Trident.

116 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

gion, commonly they are so busy in trifles and
such impertinences in which the scene of their
mistake lies, that they neglect the greater things
of the law, charity, and compliances, and the gen-
tleness of Christian communion ; for this is the
great principle of mischief, and yet is not more
pernicious than unreasonable.

For, I demand, can any man say and justify
that the apostles did deny communion to any man
that believed the apostles' creed, and lived a good
life ? And dare any man tax that proceeding of
remissness, and indifFerency in religion? And
since our blessed Savior promised salvation to-
him that believeth (and the apostles, when they
gave this word the greatest extent, enlarged it
beyond the borders of the creed), how can any
man warrant the condemning of any man to the
flames of hell, that is ready to die in attestation
of this faith, so expounded and made explicit by
the apostles, and lives accordingly ? And to this
purpose it was excellently said, by a wise and a
pious prelate, St. Hilary,* "It is not through
thorny questions that God invites us to heaven ;
our way to eternal life is clear and easy: — to be-
lieve that Jesus was raised from the dead by the
power of God, to confess him to be the Lord," &c.
These are the articles whicli xfe must believe,
which are the sufficient and adequate object of
that faith which is required of us in order to sal-
vation. And therefore it was, that when the
bishops of Istria deserted the communion of Pope
Pelagius, m ccaisa irium capitidorum,] he gives

* " Non per difficiles nos Deus ad beatam vitam qusestiones
vocat, Stc. In absolute nobis etfacili est asternitas; Jesum
suscitatum a mortuis per Deum credere, et ipsum esse Domi-
num confiteri," &c. — Lib. x. De Trin. ad Mnem.

t Conci], torn. iv. edit. Pai-is. p. 473,

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 117

them an account of his faith by recitation of the
creed, and by attesting the four general councils,
and is confident upon this that no question or
suspicion can arise respecting the validity of his
faith: let the apostles' creed, especially so expli-
cated, be but secured, and all faith is secured ; and
yet that explication too, was less necessary than
the articles themselves ; for the explication was
but accidental, but the articles, even before the
explication, were accounted a sufficient inlet to
the kingdom of heaven.

And that there was security enough, in the sim-
ple believing the first articles, is very certain
amongst them, and by their principles who allow
of an implicit faith to serve most persons to the
greatest purposes ; for if the creed did contain in
it the whole faith, and that other articles were in
it implicitly (for such is the doctrine of the
school, and particularly of Aquinas), then he that
•explicitly believes all the creed, does implicitly
i)elieve all the articles contained in it ; and then
it is better the implication shoiUd still continue,
than that, by any explication (which is simply
unnecessary), the church should be troubled v.ith
<|uestions, and uncertain determinations, and fac-
tions enkindled, and animosities set on foot, and
men's souls, endangered, who before were secured
by the explicit belief of all that the apostles re-
quired as necessary; which belief also did secure
thfctn for all the rest, because it implied the belief
of whatsoever was virtually in the first articles, if
such belief should by chance be necessary.

The sum of this discourse is this ; if we take an
estimate of the nature of faith from the dictates
and promises evangelical, and from the practice
apostolical, the nature of faith and its integrity

118 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

consists in such propositions which make tlie foun-
dation of hppe and charity, that which is sufficient
to make us to do honor to Christ and to obey him,
and to encourage us in both ; and this is completed
in the apostles' creed. And since contraries are of
the same extent, heresy is to be judged by its propor-
tion and analogy to faith, and that is heresy only
which is against faith. Now, because faith is not
only a precept of doctrines, but of manners and holy
life, whatsoever is either opposite to an article of
creed, or teaches ill life, that is heresy ; but all those
propositions which are extrinsical to these two
considerations, be they true or be they false, make
not heresy, nor the man a heretic ; and tlierefore,
however he may be an erring person, yet he is to
be used accordingly, pitied and instructed, not
condemned or excommunicated : and this is the
result of the first ground, the consideration of the
nature of faith and heresy.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 119

SECTION III.

Of the difficulty and uncertainty of Arguments from
Scripture, in Questions not simply necessary^ not
literally determined.

God, Avho disposes of all things sweetly, and ac-
cording to the nature and capacity of things and
persons, had made those only necessary which he
had taken care should be sufficiently propounded
to all persons of whom he required the explicit
belief. And therefore all the articles of faith are
clearly and plainly set down in Scripture, and the
Gospel is not hid, excepting to them that are lost,
saith St. Paul; " for there we find the encourage-
ment to every virtue, and the warning against
every vice," saith Damascen ;* and that so mani-
festly, that no man can be ignorant of the founda-
tion of faith without his own apparent fault. And
this is acknowledged by all wise and good men;
and is evident, besides the reasonableness of the
thing, in the testimonies of Saints Austin,t Jerome,|
Chrysostom,§ Fulgentius,'! Hugo de vSancto Vic-
tore,^ Theodoret,*"^" Lactantius,tf Theophilus
AntiochenuSjtt Aquinas,§§ and the latter school-

* IIat!7-«? yctp itpiTHC ?rApAXK>1<7lV, KlU KAKiCti 0L7rU.3-riS TpOTTitV tV

Txuraui ivpiT-Af.ixiv. — Orthod. Fidei. lib. iv, c. 18.
t Super. Pi;al. 88, et de Util. Cred. c. 6.
t Super Isa. c. 19, and in Psal. 86.

§ Homil. 3, in Thess. Ep. ii. || Serin, de Confess.

IT Miscel. ii. lib. i. tit. 46.

** In Gen. ap Struch. p. 87. ft Cap. 6.

X\ Ad Antioch. lib. ii. p. 918. §§ Par. i.q. i. art. 9.

120 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

men. And God hath done more ; for many things
which are only profitable, are also set down so
plainly, that, as St. Austin says, '' every one may
partake, if he come in a devout and pious spirit :"*
but of such things there is no question commenced
in Christendom ; and if there were, it cannot but be
a crime and human interest that are the autliors
of such disputes ; and therefore these cannot be
simple errors, but always heresies, because the
principle of them is a personal sin.

But besides these things, which are so plainly
set down, some for doctrine, as St. Paul says, that
is for articles and foundation of faith, some for in-
struction, some for reproof, some for comfort, that
is, in matters practical and speculative of several
tempers and constitutions, there are innumerable
places, containing in them great mysteries, but yet
either so enwrapped with a cloud, or so darkened
with umbrages, or heightened with expressions, or
so covered with allegories and garments of rhe-
toric, so profound in the matter, or so altered or
made intricate in the manner, in the clothing, and
in the dressing, that God may feeem to have left
them as trials of our industry, and arguments of
our imperfections, and incentives to the longings
after heaven, and the clearest revelations of eter-
nity, and as occasions and opportunities of our
mutual charity and toleration to each other, and
humility in ourselves, rather than the repositories
of faith and furniture of creeds, and articles of
belief.

For wherever the word of God is kept, whether
in Scripture alone, or also in tradition, he that
considers that the meaning of the one, and the

* " Nemo inde haurire non possil, 31 modo ad haiiriendum
devote ac pie accedat." — Ubi supia de Util. Cred. c. 6.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 121

truth or certainty of the other, are things of great
question, will see a necessity in these things
(which are the subject matter of most of the ques-
tions in Christendom), that men should hope to be
excused by an implicit faith in God Almighty.
For when there are, in the explications of Scrip-
ture, so many commentaries, so many senses and
interpretations, so many volumes in all ages, and
all, like men's faces, exactly none like another,
either this difterence and inconvenience is abso-
lutely no fault at all, or, if it be, it is excusable,
by a mind prepared to consent in that truth which
God intended. And this I call an implicit faith
in God, which is certainly of as great excellency
as an implicit faith in any man or company of
men. Because they who do require an implicit
faith in the church for articles less necessary, and
excuse the want of explicit faith by the implicit,
do require an implicit faith in the church, because
they believe that God hath required of them to
have a mind prepared to believe whatever the
church says ; which, because it is a proposition of
no absolute certainty, whosoever does, in readiness
of mind, believe all that God spake, does also be-
lieve that sufficiently, if it be fitting to be believed ;
that is, if it be true, and if God hath said so ; for
he hath the same obedience of understanding in
this as in the other. But, because it is not so cer-
tain God hath tied him in all things to believe
that which is called tlie church, and that it is cer-
tain we must believe God in all things, and yet
neither know all that eitlier God hath revealed or
the church taught, it is better to take the certain
than the uncertain, to believe God rather than
men ; especially since, if God hath bound us to
believe men, our absolute submission to God doea
11

122 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

involve that, and there is no inconvenience in the
world this way, but that we implicitly believe one
article more, viz. the church's authority or infalli-
bility, which may well be pardoned, because it
secures our belief of all the rest, and we are sure
if we believe all that God said explicitly or im-
plicitly, we also believe the church implicitly, in
case we are bound to it ; but we are not certain,
that if we believe any company of men, M'hom we
call the church, that we therefo^-e obey God, and
believe what he hath said. But however, if this
will not help us, there is no help for us, but good
fortune or absolute predestination ; for by choice
and industry no man can secure himself, that in
all the mysteries of religion taught in Scripture
lie shall certainly understand and explicitly be-
lieve that sense that God intended. For to this
purpose there are many considerations.

I. There are so many thousands of copies that
were writ by persons of several interests and per-
suasions, such different understandings and tem-
pers, such distinct abilities and weakness, that it
is no wonder there is so great variety of readings
both in the Old Testament and in the New. In
the Old Testament, the Jews pretend that the
Christians have corrupted many places, on purpose
to make symphony between both the Testaments.
On the other side, tlie Christians have had so much
reason to suspect the Jews, that when Aquilla had
translated the Bible in their schools, and had been
taught by them, they rejected the edition, many
of them, and some of them called it heresy to fol-
low it. And Justin Martyr justified it to Tryphon,
that the Jews had defalked many sayings from the
books of the old prophets, and amongst the r<^st he
instances in that of the Psalm, Dicite in natioiiibus

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. \2S

quia Dominus regnavit a ligno. The last words
they have cut off, and prevailed so far in it, that
to this day none of our Bibles have it ; but if thej
ought not to have it, then Justin Martyr's Bible
had more in it than it should have, for there it
was; so that a fault there was, either under or
over. But, however, there are infinite readings in
the new Testament (for in tliat I will instance);
some whole verses in one that are not in another;
and there was, in some copies of St. Mark's Gos-
pel, in the last chapter, a whole verse, a chapter
it was anciently called, that is not found in our
Bibles, as St. Jerome ad Hedibiam, q. 3. notes.
The words he repeats, Lib. ii. Contra Polygamos:
*' They confessed, saying, that it is the essence of
iniquity and unbelief, which does not allow the
true power of God to be apprehended by unclean
spirits ; therefore now display thy righteousness."*
l^liese words are thouglit by some to savor of
Manicheism; and, for ought I can find, were
therefore rejected out of m^iiiy Greek copieS, and
at last out of the Latin. Now, suppose that a
Manichee in disputation should urge this placC;,
having found it in his Bible, if a catholic should
answer him by saying, it is apocryplial, and not
found in divers Greek copies, might not the Mani-
chee ask, how it came in, if it v/as not the word
of God, and if it was, how came it out ? and at
kst take the same liberty of rejecting any other
authm-ity wliich shall be alleged against him, if he
can find any copy that may favor him, however
tliat favor be procured ? And did not the Ebio-

* " Et illi satis faciebaat dieentes, saeculum I:-lud iniquitatia
et incredulitatis substantia est, qua non sinit per iminundos
spiiitus veram Dei apprehendi virtutern, idcirco jam nunc
revela iuslitiam tuani."

124 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

nites reject all the epistles of St. Paul, upon pre-
tence he was an enemy tc the law of Moses ? In-
deed, it was boldly and most unreasonably done;
but if one title or one chapter of St. Mark be called
apocryphal, for being suspected of Manicheism,
it is a plea that will too much justify others in
their taking and choosing what they list. But I
will not urge it so far ; but is not there as much
reason for the fierce Lutherans to reject the epistle
of St. James, for favoring justification by works,
or the epistle to the Hebrews, upon pretence that
the sixth and tenth chapters do favor Novatianism ;
especially, since it was by some famous churches
at first not accepted ; even by the church of Rome
herself? The parable of the woman taken in
adultery, which is now in John viii, Eusebius says,
was not in any gospel, but the Gospel according
to the Hebrews; and St. Jerome makes it doubt-
ful, and so does St. Chrysostom and Euthimius, the
first not vouchsafing to explicate it in his homilies
upon St. John, the other afiirming it not to be
found in the exacter copies. I shall not need to
urge, that there are some words so near in sound,
that the scribes might easily mistake. There is
one famous one of serving the LonP which yet
some copies read serving the time ;t the sense is
very unlike, though the words be near, and there
needs some little luxation to strain this latter
reading to a good sense. That famous precept of
St. Paul that the women must pray with a cover-
ing on their head, Sta. rou; etyytxac, 'because of the
angels,' hath brought into the church an opinion
that angels are present in churches, and are spec-
tators of our devotion and deportment. Such an

* Kv/)to ^aXiuovn;. f Kctipce J'nAiiiov'n?.

TKE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 12b

opinion, if it should meet with peevish opposites
on one side, and confident hyperaspists on the
other, might possibly make a sect : and here were
a clear ground for the affirmative ; and yet, who
knows but that it might have been a mistake of
the transcribers to double the ^? for if we read,
Jv* tot; AyiKnc, that the sense be, • Women in public
assemblies must wear a veil, by reason of com-
panies of the young men there present,' it would
be no ill exchange, for the loss of a letter, to make
so probable, so clear a sense of the place. But
the instances in this kind are too many, as appears
in the variety of readings in several copies, pro-
ceeding from the negligence or ignorance of the
transcriberSjOrthe malicious endeavor of iieretics,"
or the inserting marginal notes into the text, or
the nearness of several words. Indeed there is so
much evidence of this particular, that it hath en-
couraged the servants of the vulgar translation
(for so some are now-a-days) to prefer that trans-
lation before the original : for although they have
attempted that proposition with very ill success^
yet that they could think it possible to be proved,
is an argument there is much variety and altera-
tions in divers texts ; for if they were not, it were
impudence to pretend a translation, and that none
of the best, should be better than the original.
But so it is, that this variety of reading is not of
slight consideration; for althougli it be demon-
strably true, that all things necessary to faitli and
good manners are preserved from alteration and
corruption, because they are of things necessary;
and they could not be necessary, unless tliey were

* Grssci corrupertint Novum Testamentiun ut tfistaiitirr
Ttirtul. lib. V. adv. Marcion. Euseb. lib. v. Hist. c. uH. Irena?.
lib. i. r,2'>. AUii. H.Tro.-.. P.a.-.il. 1 h. ii. contr. Eunomiuin.
11 -^

126 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

delivered to us, God in his goodness and his justice
having obliged himself to preserve that which he
hath bound us to observe and keep ; yet, in other
things, which God hath not obliged himself so
punctually to preserve, — in these things, since
variety of reading is crept in, every reading takes
away a degree of certainty from any proposition
derivative from those places so read : and if some
copies (especially if they be public and notable)
omit a verse or title, every argument from such a
title or verse loses much of its strength and repu-
tation ; and we find it in a great instance. For
when in probation of the mystery of the glorious
Unity in Trinity, we allege that sayingof St John,
' There are three which bear witness in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these
three are one;' the anti-trinitarians think they
have answered the argument, by saying, the Syrian
translation and divers Greek copies have not that
verse in tliem, and therefore, being of doubtful
authority, cannot conclude with certainty in a
question of faith. And there is an instance on
the catholic part : for when the Arians urge the
sayingof our Savior, 'No man knows that day
and hour (viz. of judgment), no not the Son, but
the Father only,' to prove tliat the Son knows not
all things, and therefore cannot be God, in the
proper sense ; St. Ambrose thinks he hath an-
swered the argument by saying those words, ' no
not the Son,' were thrust into the text by the
fraud of the Arians. So that here we have one
objection, which must first be cleared and made
infallible, before we can be ascertained iji any such
question as to call them heretics that dissent.

II. I consider that there are very many senses
and designs of expounding Scripture, and v.hen

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 127

the grammatical sense is found out, we are many
times never the nearer ; it is not that which was
intended ; for there is, in very many Scriptures, a
double sense, a literal and a spiritual (for the
Scripture is a book written within and without,
Apoc. v.), and both these senses are subdivided.
For the literal sense is either natural or figurative ;
and the spiritual is sometimes allegorical, some-
times anagogical ; nay, sometimes there are divers
literal senses in the same sentence, as St. Austin
excellently proves in divers places f and it appears
in divers quotations in the New Testament, where
the apostles and divine writers bring the same tes-
timony to divers purposes ; and particularly St.
Paul's making that saying of the Psalm, ' Thou art
my Son, this day have I begotten thee,' to be an
argument of Christ's resurrection, and a designa-
tion or ordination to his pontificate, is an instance
very famous in his first and fifth chapter to the
Hebrews. But now, there being such variety of
senses in Scripture, and but few places so marked
out, as not to be capable of divers senses, if men
will write commentaries as Herod made orations,
neLTA TTOKXH ^itvTATia^, With a mlud inflated with
vanity, what infallible criterion will be left whereby
to judge of the certain dogmatical resolute sense
of such places which have been the matter of
question r For put case, a question were com-
menced concerning the degrees of glory in heaven,
as there is in the schools a noted one. To show
an inequality of reward, Christ's parable is
brought, of the reward of ten cities, and of five,
according to the divers improvement of the ta-
lents : this sense is mystical, and yet very proba-

* Lib. xii. Confess, cap. 26. Lib. ii. de Civit. Dei. cap. 0.
Lib. iii. de Doftrina Christ, cap. 26.

128 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

ble, and understood by men, for aught I know, to
this very sense. And the result of the argument
is made good by St. Paul : ' As one star differeth
from another in glory, so shall it be in the resur-^
rection of the dead.' Nov,', suppose another
should take the same liberty of expounding another
parable to a mystical sense and interpretation, as all
parables must be expounded ; then the parable of
the laborers in the vineyard, and though differing
in labor, yet having an equal reward, to any man's
understanding, may seem very strongly to prove
the contrary ; and as if it were of purpose, and
that it were the main design of the parable, the
lord of the vineyard determined the point reso-
lutely, upon the mutiny and repining of them that
had borne the burthen and heat of the day, ' I
will give unto this last even as to tliee;' which to
my sense, seems to determine tiie question of de-
grees; they that work but little, and they that
work hjng, shall not be distinguislied in the re-
ward though accidentally they were in the work ;
and if this opinion could but answer St. Paul's
words, it stands as fair, and perhaps fairer than
the other. Now, if we look well upon the words
of St. Paul, we shall find he speaks nothing at all
of diversity of degrees of glory in beautified bo-
dies, but the differences of glory in bodies heavenly
and earthly : ' There are,' says he, ' bodies earthly,
and there are heavenly bodies : and one is the
glory of the earthly, another the glory of the
heavenly; one glory of the sun, another of the
moon, &c. So shall it be in the resurrection ; for
it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorrup-
tion.' Plainly thus, our bodies in the resurrection
shall differ as much from our bodies here, in the
state of corruption, as one star does from another.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 129

And now, suppose a sect should be commenced
upon this question (upon lighter and vainer many
have been), either side must resolve to answer
the other's arguments, whether they can or no,
and to deny to each other a liberty of expounding
the parable to such a sense, and yet themselves
must use it or want an argument. But men use
to be unjust in their own cases ; and were it not
better to leave each other to their liberty, and
seek to preserve their own charity ? For when
the words are capable of a mystical or a diverse
sense I know not why men's fancies or under-
standings should be more bound to be like one
another than their faces : and either, in all such
places of Scripture, a liberty must be indulged to
every honest and peaceable wise man, or else all
argument from such places must be wholly de-
clined. Now, although I instanced in a question,
which by good fortune never came to open defi-
ance, yet there have been sects framed upon
lighter grounds, more inconsiderable questions,
which have been disputed on either side with argu-
ments less material and less pertinent. St. Aus-
tin laughed at the Donatists, for bringing that
sa3dng of the spouse in the Canticles, to prove
their schism, * Tell me where thou feedest, where
thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.' For from
thence they concluded, the residence of the church
was only in the south part of the world, only in
Africa.* It was but a weak way of argument ;
yet the fathers were free enough to use such me-
diums, to prove mysteries of gi-eat concernment ;
but yet again, when they speak either against an
adversary, or with consideration, they deny that
such mystical senses can sufficiently confirm a

* Jerome, in Matth. xi.

130 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

question of faith. But I shall instance, in the
great question of rebaptization of heretics, which
many saints, and martyrs, and confessors, and
divers councils, and almost all Asia and Africa
did once believe and practice. Their grounds for
the invalidity of the baptism by a heretic, were
such mystical words as these ; * Thou hast covered
my head in the day of battle,' Ps. cxl ; and, * He
that washeth himself, after touching a dead body,
if he touch it again, what availeth his washing ?'
Ecdes. xxxiv.; and 'Drink waters out of thine
own cistern,' Prov. v. ; and, ' We know that God
heareth not sinners,' John ix. ; and, " He that is
not with me is against me,' Luke xi. I am not
sure the other part had arguments so good ; for
the great one of * one laith, one baptism,' did not
conclude it to their understandings who were of
the other opinion, and men famous in tlieir gene-
rations ; for it was no argument that they who
had been baptized by John's baptism should not
be baplized in the name of Jesus, because 'one
God, one baptism;' and as it is still one faith
which a man confesseth several times, and one
sacrament of the eucharist, though a man often
communicates ; so it might be one baptism, though
often ministered. And the unity of baptism might
not be derived from the unity of the ministration,
but from the unity of the religion into which they
are baptized ; though baptized a thousand times,
yet, because it was still in the name of the holy
Trinity, still into the death of Christ, it might be
* one baptism.' Whether St. Cyprian, Firmilian,
and their colleagues, had this discourse or no (I
know not), I am sure they might have had much
better to have evacuated the force of that argu-
ment, although I believe they had the wrong cause

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 131

in hand. But this is it that I say, that when a
question is so undetermined in Scripture, that the
arguments relj only upon such mystical places
whence the best fancies can draw the greatest
variety, and such which perhaps were never in-
tended by the Holy Ghost, it were good the rivers
did not swell higher than the foundation, and the
confidence higher than the argument and evidence :
for, in this case, there could not any thing be so
certainly proved, as that tlie disagreeing party
should deserve to be condemned, by a sentence of
excommunication, for disbelieving it; and yet
they were ; which I wonder at so much the more,
because they who (as it was since judged) had the
right cause, had not any sufficient argument from
Scripture, not so much as such mystical arguments,
but did fly to the tradition of the church ; in which
also I shall afterwards show, they had nothing that
was absolutely certain.

III. I consider that there are divers places ot
Scripture, containing in them mysteries and ques-
tions of great concernment ; and yet the fabric
and constitution is such, that there is no certain
mark to determine whether the sense of them
should be literal or figurative ; I speak not here
concerning extrinsical means of determination,
as traditivc interpretation, councils, fathers, popes,
and the like ; I shall consider them afterwards, in
their several places ; but here the subject-matter
being concerning Scripture in its own capacity,
I say there is notliing in the nature of the thing to
determine the sense and meaning, but it must be
gotten out as it can ; and that therefore it is un-
reasonable, that what of itself is ambiguous should
be understood in its own prime sense and inten-
tion, under the pain of either a sin or an anathema ;

IS2 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

I instance, in that famous place from whence hath
sprung that question of transubstantiation, ' This
is my body.' The words are plain and clear, apt
to be understood in the literal sense; and yet this
sense is so hard as it does violence to reason ; and
therefore it is the question, whether or no it be
not a figurative speech. But here, what shall we
have to determine it? What mean soever we
take, and to what sense soever you will expound
it, you shall be put to give an account why you
expound other places of Scripture, in the same
case, to quite contrary senses. For if you ex-
pound it literally, then, besides that it seems to
intrench upon the words of our blessed Savior,
* The words tliat I speak, they are spirit, and they
are life,' that is, to be spiritually understood (and
it is a miserable thing to see what wretched shifts
are used to reconcile the literal sense to these
words, and yet to distinguish it from tlie Capcr-
naitlcal fancy) ; but besides this, why are not those
other sayings of Christ expounded literally, ' I am
a vine, I am the door, I am a rock ?' Why do we
fly to a figure in those parallel words, ' This is
the covenant which I make between me and you ?'
and yet that covenant was but the sign of the
covenant; and why do we fly to a figure in a pre-
cept as well as in mystery and a proposition } * If
thy right hand oftend thee, cut it oft':' and yet we
have figures enough to save a limb. If it be said,
because reason tells us these are not to be ex-
pounded according to the letter; this will be no
plea for them who retain the literal exposition of
the other instance, against all reason, against all
phdosophy, against all sense, and against two or
three sciences. But if you expound these words
figuratively, besides that you are to contest

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 133

against a world of prejudices, you give yourself
the liberty, which if others will use when either
they have a reason or a necessity so to do, they
may perhaps turn all into allegory, and so may
evacuate any precept, elude any argument. Well,
so it is that very wise men have expounded things
allegorically, when they should have expounded
them literally.* So did the famous Origen, who,
as St. Jerome reports of him, turned paradise so
into an allegory, that he took away quite the truth
of the story, and not only Adam was turned out
of the garden, but the garden itself out of para-
dise. Others expound things literaily, v/hen they
should understand them in allegory ; so did the
ancient Papias understand Christ's millenary reign
upon earth (Apocxd. xx.) ; and so depressed tiie
hopes of Christianity, and their desires to the
longing and expectation of temporal pleasures and
satisfactions ; and he was followed by Justin
Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Lactantlus, and in-
deed the whole church generally, till St. Austin
and St. Jerome's time ; who, first of any whose
works are extant, did reprove the error. If such
great spirits be deceived, in finding out what kind
of senses be to be given to Scriptures, it may well
be endured that we, who sit at their feet, may also
tread in the steps of them whose feet could not
always tread aright.

IV. I consider that there are some places of
Scripture that have the self-same expressions, the
same preceptive words, the same reason and ac-

* Sic St. Hicroin. "In adolescentia prnvocatas ardoro et
studio Seripturarum ailetrorice interpretatus sura Abdiam
prophetam, ciijus historiam nesciebam." De Sensu Alle-
gorico S, Script, dixit Basilius, 'n? x;/£i^.4«w,"'i'->' !-^iv roy ^t-yoy
ciTiS'-'^^ofAi-b-x, £4A))-5r>i cT; iiv±t ou TTcivv cTa'craus/. — Lib. x:xii. de
Civit. Dei. c. 7. Prcefat. lib. xix. in Isai. et in c. ?.6. E/.ek.
153

134 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

count, in all appearance, and yet either must be
expounded to quite different senses, or else we
jnust renounce the communion, and the charities
of a great part of Christendom. And yet there is
absolutely nothing in the thing, or in its circum-
stances, or in its adjuncts that can determine it
to different purposes. I instance in those great
exclusive negatives for the necessity of botli sa-
craments: 'Except a man be born of water, &c.

* Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, ye
cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.' Now,
then, the first is urged for the absolute, indispen-
sible necessity of baptism, even in infants ; inso-
much that infants go to part of hell if (inculpably
both on their own and their parents' part) they
miss of baptism ; for that is the doctrine of the
church of Rome, which they learnt from St, Aus-
tin : and others also do, from hence, baptize in-
fants, though with a less opinion of its absolute
necessity. And yet the same manner of precept,
in the same form of words, in the same manner of
threatening, by an exclusive negative, shall not
enjoin us to communicate infants, though damna-
tion (at least in form of words) be exactly, and in
every particular, alike appendant to the neglvict
of holy baptism and the venerable eucharist. If

* except ye be born again,' shall conclude against
the anabaptist for necessity of baptizing infants,
(as sure enough we say it does), why shall not an
equal, ' except ye eat,' bring infants to the holy
communion? The primitive church, for some
two whole ages, did follow their own principles,
wherever they led them ; and seeing that upon
the same ground equal results must follow, they
did communicate infants as soon as they had bap-
tized them. And whv the churcli of Rome should

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 135

not do SO too, being she expounds, ' except ye eat,'
of oral manducation, I cannot yet learn a reason.
And, for others that expound it of a spiritual man-
ducation, why they shall not allow the disagreeing
part the same liberty of expounding ' except a man
be born again,' too, I by no means can understand.
And in these cases no external determiner can be
pretended in answer : for whatsoever is extrinsi-
cal to the words, as councils, tradition, church
authority, and fathers, either have said nothing at
all, or have concluded, by their practice, contrary
to the present opinion ; as is plain in their com-
municating infants by virtue of ' except ye eat.'

V. I shall not need to urge the mysteriousness
of some points in Scripture, which, from the
nature of the subject, are hard to be understood,
though very plainly represented: for there are
some mysteries in divinity,* which are only to
be understood by persons very holy and spiritual,
which are rather to be felt than discoursed of;
and therefore, if peradventure they be offered to
public consideration, they will therefore be op-
posed, because they run the same fortune with
many other questions ; that is, not to be understood ;
and so much the rather, because their understand-
ing, that is, the feeling such secrets of the king-
dom, are not the results of logic and philosophy,
or yet of public revelation, but of the public spirit
privately working, and in no man is a duty, but
in all that have it, is a reward ; and is not neces-
sary for all, but given to some; producing its
operations, not regularly, but upon occ^ions,
personal necessities, and new emergencies. Of
this nature are the spirit of obsignation, belief of
particular salvation, special influences and com-
* Secreta Theologiae.

136 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

lorts, coming from a sense of the spirit of adoption,
actual fervors and great complacencies in devotion,
spiritual joys, which are little drawings aside of
the curtains of peace and eternity, and antepasts
of immortality. But the not understanding the
perfect constitution and temper of these mysteries
(and it is hard for any man so to understand as to
make others do so too that feel them not), is cause
that in many questions of secret theology, by being
very apt and easy to be mistaken, there is a ne-
cessity in forbearing one another ; and this con-
sideration would have been of good use in the
question between Soto and Catharinus, both for
the preservation of their charity and explication
of the mystery.

VI. But here it will not be unseasonable to
consider, that all systems and principles of science
are expressed so, that either by reason of the uni-
versality of the terms and subject-matter, or the
infinite variety of human understandings, and
these peradventure swayed by interest, or deter-
mined by things accidental and extrinsical, they
seem to divers men, nay to the same men upon
divers occasions, to speak things extremely dis-
parate, and sometimes contrary, but very often
of great variety. And this very thing happens
also in Scripture, that if it were not in a sacred
subject, it were excellent sport to observe, how
the same place of Scripture serves several turns
upon occasion, and they at that time believe the
words sound notjiing else ; whereas, in the liberty
of thei#judgment and abstracting from that occa-
sion, their commentaries understand them wholly
to a differing sense. It is a wonder of what ex-
cellent use to the church of Rome, is tihi daho
daves, 'I will give thee the keys.' It was spoken

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESVING. 137

to Peter and none else (sometimes), and there-
fore it concerns him and his successors only ; the
rest are to derive from him. And yet, if you
question them for their sacrament of penance, and
priestly absolution, then ' I will give thee the keys'
comes in, and that was spoken to St. Peter, and in
him to the whole college of the apostles, and in
them to the whole hierarchy. If you question
why the pope pretends to free souls from purga-
tory, *I will give thee the keys' is his warrant;
but if you tell him, the keys are only for binding
and loosing on earth directly, and in heaven con-
sequently; and that purgatory is a part of hell,
or rather neither earth, nor heaven, nor hell, and
so the keys seem to have nothing to do with it,
then his commission is to be enlarged by a sup-
pletory of reason and consequences, and his keys
shall unlock his difficulty; for it is the key of
knowledge, as well as of authority. And these
keys shall enable him to expound Scriptures in-
fallibly, to determine questions, to preside in
councils, to dictate to all the world magisterially,
to rule the church, to dispense w4th oaths, to ab-
rogate laws : and if his key of knowledge will
not, the key of authority shall, and *I will give
thee the keys' shall answer for all. We have an
instance in the single fancy of one man, what rare
variety of matter is aftbrded from those plain
words, 'I have prayed for thee, Peter,' Luke,
xxii. ; for that place, says Bellarmine,* is other-
wise to be understood of Peter, otherwise of the
popes, and otherwise of the church of Rome : and
' for thee' signifies, that Christ prayed that Peter
might neither err personally nor judicially; and
that Peter's successors, if they did err personally,
* Bellar. lib. iv. de Pontif, c. 3. § Respondeo primo.
1-2-

138 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

might not err judicially; and that the Roman
church might not err personally. All this variety^
of senses is pretended, by the fancy of one man,'
to be in a few words which are as plain and sim-
ple as are any words in Scripture. And what
then in tliose thousands that are intricate ? vSo is
done with * Feed my sheep,' which a man would
think were a commission as innocent and guiltless
of designs, as the sheep in the folds are. But if
it be asked, why the bishop of Rome calls himself
universal bishop, * Feed my sheep' is his warrant.
Why he pretends to a power of deposing princes,

* Feed my sheep,' said Christ to Peter, the second
time. If it be demanded, why also he pretends
to a power of authorizing his subjects to kill him,

* Feed my lambs,' said Christ, the third time : and
' feed' (pasce) is teach, and ' feed' is command, and

* feed' is kilL Now if others should take the same
(unreasonableness I will not say, but the same)
liberty in expounding Scripture, or if it be not
licence taken, but that the Scripture itself is so
full and redundant in senses quite contrary, what
man soever, or what company of men soever shall
use this principle, will certainly find such rare
productions from several places, that either the
unreasonableness of the thing will discover the
error of the proceeding, or else there will be a
necessity of permitting a great liberty of judg-
ment, where is so infinite variety without limit
or mark of necessary determination. If the first,
then, because an error is so obvious and ready to
ourselves, it will be great imprudence or tyranny
to be hasty in judging others ; but if the latter,
it is that I contend for: for it is most unreasonable,
when either the thing itself ministers variety,
or that we take licence to ourselves in variety of

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 139

interpretations, or proclaim to all the world our
great weakness, by our actually being deceived,
that we should either prescribe to others magiste-
rially, when we are in error, or limit their under-
standings, when the thing itself affords liberty
and variety.

140 THE SACRED CLASSICS,

SECTION iv:

Of the DifficuUy of Expounding Scripture,

These considerations are taken from the nature
of Scripture itself; but then, if we consider that
we have no certain ways of determining places
of difficulty and question, infallibly and certainly;
but that we must hope to be saved in the belief of
things plain, necessary, and fundamental, and our
pious endeavor to find out God's meaning in such
places, which he hath left under a cloud, for otlier
great ends reseiTed to his own knowledge, we
shall see a very great necessity in allowing a
IJberfy in prophesying, without prescribing autho-
ritatively to other men's consciences, and becom-
ing lords and masters of their faith. Now the
means of expounding Scripture are either exter-
nal, or internal. For the external, as church -
authority, tradition, fathers, councils, and decrees
of bishops, they are of a distinct consideration,
and follow after in their order. But here we will
first consider the invalidity and uncertainty of all
those means of expounding Scripture, which are
more proper and internal to the nature of the
thing. The great masters of commentiiries, some
whereof have undertaken to know all mysteries,
have propounded many ways to expound Scrip-
ture; which indeed arc excellent helps, but not
infallible assistances, both because themselves are
but moral instruments, which force not truth from
concealment, as also because they are not infalli-
bly used and applied. 1. Sometime the sense is

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 141

drawn forth by the context and connexion of
parts : it is well when it can be so. But when
there is two or three antecedents, and subjects
spoken of, what man or what rule shall ascertain
me, that I make my reference true, by drawing
the relation to such an antecedent, to which I
have a mind to apply it, another hath not ? For
in a contexture where one part does not always
depend upon another, where things of differing
natures intervene and interrupt the first inten-
tions, there it is not always very probable to
expound Scripture, to take its meaning by its
proportion to the neighboring words. But who
desires satisfaction in this, may read the observation
verified in S. Gregory's Morals upon Job, lib. v.
c. 29, and the instances he there brings are excel-
lent proof, that, this way of interpretation does
not warrant any man to impose his expositions
upon the belief and understanding of other men
too confidently and magisterially.

2. Another great pretence of medium is tiie
conference of places, which Illyricus calls ''a
mighty remedy, and a very happy exposition of
holy Scripture ;"* and indeed so it is, if w ell and
temperately used ; but then we are beholding to
them that do so, for there is no rule that can con-
strain them to it; for comparing of places is of
so indefinite capacity, that if there be ambiguity
of words, variety of sense, alteration of circum-
stances, or difterencc of style amongst divine
writers, then there is nothing that may be more
abused by willful people, or may more easily de-
ceive the unwary, or that may amuse the most
intelligent observer. The anabaptists take ad-

* " Ingens remedium et fcelicisoiiiiam expositionem sancts
Scripturse."

142 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

vantage enough in this proceeding (and indeed
so may any one that list), and when we pretend
against them the necessity of baptizing all, by
authority of ' unless a man be born of water and
of the Spirit,' they have a parallel for it, and tell
us, that Christ will ' baptize us with the Holy
Ghost and with lire,' and that one place expounds
the other ; and because by fire is not meant an
element, or any thing that is natural, but an alle-
gory and figurative expression of the same thing,
so also by water may be meant the figure signify-
ing the eftect or manner of operation of the Holy
Spirit. Fire in one place, and water in the othei-,
do but represent to us, that Christ's baptism is
nothing else but the cleansing and purifying us by
the Holy Ghost. But that which I here note as
of greatest concernment, and which, in all reason,
ought to be an utter overthrow to this topic, is an
universal abuse of it among those that use it
most ; and when two places seem to have the
same expression, or if a word have a double sig-
nification, because in this place it may have such
a sense, therefore it must ; because in one of the
places the sense is to their purpose, they conclude
that therefore it must be so in the other too. An
instance I give in the great question between the
Socinians and the Catholics. If any place be
urged, in which our blessed Savior is called God,
they show you two or three where the word God
is taken in a depressed sense, for one like God ;
as when God said to Moses, ' I have made thee a
god to Pharoah ;' and hence they argue, because I
can show the w^ord is used for a false god, there-
fore no argument is sufficient to prove Christ to
be true God, from the appellative of God. And
might not another argue to the exact contrary,

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. '145

and as well urge that Moses is the true God; be-
cause in some places the word God is used tor
the eternal God? Both ways the argument con-
cludes impiously and unreasonably. It is a fal-
lacy to conclude affirmatively from a possibility
to a reality ; because breaking of bread is some-
times used for an eucharistical manducation in
Scripture, therefore I shall not, from any testi-
mony of Scripture affirming the first Christians
to have broken bread together, conclude that they
lived hospitably and in common society. Because
it may possibly be eluded, therefore it does not
signify any thing. And this is the great way of
answering: all the aro-umcnts that can be brought
against any thing that any man hath a mind to
defend ; and any man that reads any controver-
sies of any side, shall find as many instances of
this vanity, almost, as he finds arguments from
Scripture: this fault was of old noted by St. Aus-
tin, for then they had got the trick, and he is an-
gry at it :* '• We ought not," says he, " to take it
for granted, that because, in a particular place, a
thing has a certain signification, it always signifies
the same."

3. Oftentimes vScripturesare pretended to be ex-
pounded by a proportion and analogy of reason;
and this is as the other, if it be well, it is well.
But unless there were some universal intellect,
furnished with infallible propositions, b}-- referring
to which every man might ary-ue infallibly, this lo£;ic
may deceive as well as any of the rest. For it is
with reason as with men's tastes ; although there

* " Neque enim putare debefnus esse prsscriptura, ut quod
in aliquo loco res aliqua per siniilitudinem significaverit, hoc
etiam semper significare credamus." — De Doctri. Ctiristian.
lib. iii.

144 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

are some general principles which are reasonable
to all men, yet every man is not able to draw oitt
all its consequences, nor to understand them when
they are drawn forth, nor to believe when he does
understand tliem. There is a precept of St. Paul,
directed to the Thessalonians, before they were
gathered into a body of a churcli, 2 TJies. iii. 6,
' To withdraw from every brother that walketh
disorderly :' but if this precept were now observed,
I would fain know wliether we should not fall into
that inconvenience which St. Paul sought to avoid,
in giving the same commandment to the church
of Corinth, 1 Cor. v. 9: 'I wrote to you, that ye
r>hould not company with fornicators;' and, 'yet
not altogether with the fornicators of this world,
for then ye must go out of the world :' and there-
fore he restrains it to a quitting tiie society of
Christians living ill lives. But now that all the
world hath been Christians, if we should sin in
keeping company with vicious Christians, niiist
we not also go out of this world ? Is not the pre^
cept made null, because the reason is altered, and
things are come about, and that the ' many,' c/ waxo/,
are the brethren, caix^oi ivc^ct^c^svo/, ' called brethren,'
as St. Paul's phrase is.^ And yet either this
never was considered, or not yet believed ; for it
is g;enerally taken to be obligatory, though (1
think) seldom practised. But when we come to
expound Scriptures to a certain sense, by argu-
ments drawn from prudential motives, then we
are in a vast plain v^ithout any sufficient gui<le,
and we shall have so many senses as there are
human prudences. But that which goes further
than this is a parity of reason, from a plain place
of Scripture to an obscure, fiom that which is
plainly set down in a text to anotlrer that is more

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 145

remote from it. And thus is that place in St.
Matthew forced : ' If thy brother refuse to be
amended, tell it to the church.' Hence some of
the Roman doctors argue, if Christ commands to
tell the church, in case of adulter v or private in-
jury, then much more in case of heresy. Well,
suppose this to be a good interpretation, why must
I stay here ? Why may not I also add, by a pa-
rity of reason, if the church must be told of
heresy, much more of treason : and why may
not I reduce all sins to the cognizance of a church
tribunal, as some men do indirectly, and Snecanus
does heartily and plainly ? If a man's principles
be good, : nd his deductions certain, he need not
care whit ler they carry him. But when an autho-
rity is entrusted to a person, and the extent of his
power expressed in his commission, it will not be
safety to meddle beyond his commission upon con-
fidence of a parity cf reason. To instance once
more : when Christ, in ' feed my slieep,' and 'thou
art Peter,' gave power to the pope to govern
tlie church (for to that sense the church of Rome
expounds those authorities), by a certain conse-
quence of reason, say they, he gave all things
necessary for exercise of this jurisdiction; and
therefore, in ' reed my sheep,' he gave him an
indirect power over temporals, for that is neces-
sary that he may do his duty. Well, having gone
thus far, we will go further upon the parity of
reason ; therefore he hath given the pope the gift
of tongues, and he hath given him power to give
it; for how else shall Xavier convert the Indians t
He hath given him also power to command the
seas and the winds, that they should obey him,
for this also is very necessary in some cases : — and
so ' feed my sheep' is * receive the gift of tongues,
13

146 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

command the seas and the winds, dispose of the
diadems of princes, and the possessions of the
people, and the influences of heaven too,' and
whatsoever the parity of reason will judge equally
necessary in order to feed Christ's sheep. When
a man does speak reason, it is but reason he should
be heard ; but though he may have the good for-
tune, or the great abilities to do it, yet he hath
not a certainty, no regular infallible assistance,
no inspiration of arguments and deductions; and
if he had, yet because it must be reason that must
judge of reason, unless other men's understand-
ings were of the same area, the same constitution
and ability, they cannot be prescribed unto by
another man's reason ; especially because such
reasonings as usually are in explication of parti-
cular places of Scripture depend upon minute
circumstances and particuhirities, in which it is
so easy to be deceived, and so hard to speak
reason regularly and always, that it is the greater
wonder if we be not deceived.

4. Others pretend to expound Scripture by the
analogy of faith, and that is the most sure and
infallible way (as it is thought); but upon stricter
survey, it is but a chimera, a thing in mibibus, in
the clouds, which varies like the right hand and
left hand of a pillar ; and, at the best, is but like
the coast of a country to a traveler out of his
way; it may bring him to his journey's end,
though twenty miles about ; it may keep him from
running into the sea, and from mistaking a river
for dry land ; but whether this little path or the
other be the right vvay, it tells not. So is the
analogy of faith ; that is, if I understand it right,
the rule of faith ; that is, the creed. Now, were
it not a fine device to go to expound all the

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 147

Scripture by the creed, there being in it so many
thousand places which have no more relation to
any article in the creed than they have to Virgil's
Kclogiies ? Indeed, if a man resolves to keep
the analogy of faith, that is, to expound Scripture
so as not to do any violence to any fundamental
article, he shall be sure, however he errs, yet not
to destroy faith, he shall not perish in his exposi-
tion. And that was the precept given by St.
Paul, that all prophesyings should be estimated
according to the analogy of faith. Rom. xii. 6.
And to this very purpose St. Austin, in his Expo-
sition of Genesis, by way of preface, sets down
the articles of faith, with this design and protesta-
tion of it, that if he says nothing against those
articles, though he miss the particular sense of the
place, there is no danger or sin in his exposition :
but how that analogy of faith should have any
other influence in expounding such places in
which those articles of faith are neither expressed
nor involved, I understand not. But then, if you
extend the analogy of faith further than that
which is proper to the rule or symbol of faith,
then every man expounds Scripture according to
the analogy of faith : but wliat ? his own faith :
which faith, if it be questioned, I am no more
bound to expound according to the analogy of
another man's faith, than he to expound according
to the analogy of mine. And this is it that is
complained of on all sides that overvalue their
own opinions. Scripture seems so clearly to
speak what they believe, that they wonder all the
world does not see it as clear as they do ; but
they satisfy themselves with saying, that it is
because they come with prejudice; whereas, if
they had the true belief, that is, theirs, they would

148 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

easily see what thej see. And this is very true ;
for if they did believe as others believe, they
would expound Scriptures to their sense ; but if
this be expounding according to the analogy of
faith, it signifies no more than this : be you of
my mind, and then my arguments will seem con-
cluding, and my authorities and allegations pressing
and pertinent : and this will serv^e on all sides, and
therefore will do but little service to the determi-
nation of questions, or prescribing to other men's
consciences, on any side.

Lastly; Consulting the originals is thought a
great matter to interpretation of Scriptures. But
this is to small purpose : for indeed it will ex-
pound the Hebrew and the Greek, and rectify
translations : but I know no man that says that
the Scriptures in Hebrew and Greek are easy and
certain to be understood, and that they are hard
in Latin and English; the difficulty is in the
thing, however it be expressed, the least is in the
language. If the original language were our mo-
tiier tongue, Scripture is not much the easier to
us ; and a natural Greek or a Jew can, with no
more reason, nor authority, obtrude his inter-
pretation upon other men's consciences, than a
man of another nation. Add to this, that the in-
spection of the original ivS no more certain way of
interpretation of Scripture now, than it was to
the fathers and primitive ages of tlie church ; and
yet he that observes what infinite variety of trans-
lations of the Bible were in the first ages of the
church (as St. Jerome observes), and never a one
like another, will think that we shall differ as
much in our interpretations as they did, and that
the medium is as uncertain to us as it was to them,
and so it is; witness the great number of late

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 149

translations, and the infinite number of comment-
aries, which are too pregnant an argument, that
w-e neither agree in the understanding of the words
nor in the sense.

The truth is, all these ways of interpreting of
Scripture, which of themselves are good helps, are
made, either by design or by our hifirmities, ways
of intricating and involving Scriptures in "greater
difficulty; because men do not learn their doc-
trines from Scripture, but come to tiie under-
standing of Scripture w^ith preconceptions and
ideas of doctrines of their own ; and then no
wonder that Scriptures look like pictures, wherein
every man in the room believes they look on him
only, and tliat wheresoever he stands, or how
often soever he changes his station. So that now
what was intended for a remedy becomes the pro-
moter of our disease, and our meat becomes the
matter of sicknesses : and the mischief is, the wit
of man cannot find a remedy for it, for there is
no rule, no limit, no certain principle, by which
all men may be guided to a certain and so infalli-
ble an interpretration, that he can, with any equity
prescribe to others to believe his interpretations
in places of controversy or ambiguity. A man
would think that the memorable prophecy of Jacob,
that the sceptre should not depart from Judah till
Shiloh come, should have been so clear a deter-
mination of the time of tlic Messias, that a Jew
should never have doubted it to have been verified
in Jesus of Nazareth; and yet, for this so clear
vaticination, they have no less than twenty-six
answers. St. Paul and St. James seem to speak
a little diversely concerning justification by faith
and works, and yet to my understanding it is very
easy to reconcile them ; but all men are not of

150 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

my mind, for Osiander, in his confutation of the
book which Melancthon wrote against him, ob-
serves, that there are twenty several opinions con-
cerning justification, all drawn from the Scrip-
tures, by the men only of the Augustan confession.
There are sixteen several opinions concerning
original sin ; and as many definitions of the sa-
craments as there are sects of men that disagree
about them.

And now what help is there for us in the midst
of these uncertainties ? If we follow any one trans-
lation, or any one man's commentary, what rule
shall we have to choose the right by ? Or is there
any one man that hath translated perfectly, or
expounded infallibly? No translation challenges
such a prerogative as to be authentic, but the
vulgar Latin ; and yet see with what good success,
for when it was declared authentic by the council
of Trent, Sixtus put forth a copy much mended
of what it was, and tied all men to follow th.at ;
but that did not satisfy, for Pope Clement reviews
and corrects it in many places, and still the decree
remains in a changed subject. And, secondly,
that translation will be very unapt to satisfy, in
which one of their own men, Isidore Clarius, a
monk of Brescia, found and mended eight thou-
sand faults, besides innumerable others, which he
says he pretermitted. And then, thirdly, to show
how little themselves were satisfied with it, divers
learned men amongst them did new translate the
Bible, and thought they did God and the church
good service in it. So that, if you take this for
your precedent, you are sure to be mistaken infi-
nitely ; if you take any other, the authors them-
selves do not promise you any security. If you
resolve to follow any one as far only as you see

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 15L

cause, then vou only do wrong or right by chance :
for joii have certainty just proportionable to your
own skill, to your own infallibility. If you re-
solve to follow any one, whithersoever he leads,
we shall oftentimes come thither, where we shall
see ourselves become ridiculous, as it happened in
the case of Spiridion, bishop of Cyprus, who so
resolved to follow his old book, that when an elo-
quent bishop, who was desired to preach, read his
text, ' Take up thy bed and walk,' Spiridion was
very angry with him, because in his book it was
' take up thy couch,' and thought it arrogance in
the preacher to speak better Latin than his trans-
lator had done : and if it be thus in translations,
it is fciv worse in expositions, "because in truth,
all do not receive the Holy Scriptures, on account
of their profundity, in the same sense, for there
are as many expositors as there are sentences in
it,"* said Vincent Lirinensis; in which every
man knows what innumerable ways there are of
being mistaken, God having, in things not simply
necessary, left such a difficulty upon those parts
of Scripture which are the subject matters of con-
troversy (as St. Austin gives a reason!), that all
that err honestly are therefore to be pitied and
tolerated; because it may be the condition of
every man, at one time or other.

The sum is this; Since Holy Scripture is the
repository of divine truths, and the great rule of
faith, to which all sects of Christians do appeal
for probation of their several opinions ; and since

* " Quia scil. Scripturam Sacrani pro ipsa sui altitudine
non uno eodemque sensu omnes accipiunt, i:t pene quot
homines tot illic sentential erui posse videantur." — In Com-
inonit.

t "AdcdoTnandumlaboresuperbiam, et intellectuin a fas-
tidio revocandum."— Lib. ii. De Doctr. Christian, c. 6.

152 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

all agree in the articles of the creed, as things
clearly and plainly set down, and as containing
all that which is of simple and prime necessity ;
and since, on the other side, there are in Scripture "
many other mysteries, and matters of question
upon which there is a veil ; since there arie so '
many copies, with infinite varieties of reading;
since a various interpunction, a parenthesis, a let- -^
ter, an accent, may much alter the sense; since
some places have divers literal senses, many have
spiritual, mystical, and allegorical meanings ; since
there are so many tropes, metonymies, ironies, hy-
perboles, proprieties, and improprieties of language,
whose understanding depends upon such circum-
stances that, it is almost impossible to know its
proper interpretation, now that the knowledge of
such circumstances and particular stories is irre-
vocably lost; since there are some mysteries which,
at the best advantage of expression, are not easy
to be apprehended, and whose explication, by rea-
son of our imperfections, must needs be dark,
sometimes unintelligible ; and lastly, since those
ordinary means of expounding Scripture, as search-
ing the originals, conference of places, parity of
reason, and analogy of faith, are all dubious,
uncertain, and very fallible, — he that is the wisest,
and by consequence the likeliest to expound
truest in all probability of reason, will be very far
from, confidence; because every one of these, and
many more, are like so many degrees of improba-
bility and uncertainty, all depressing our certainty
or finding out truth in such mysteries, and amidst
so many difticulties. And, therefore, a wise man
that considers this, would not willingly be pre-
scribed to by others ; and, therefore, if he also be
a just man, he will not impose upon others; for

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 15S

it is best every man should be left in that liberty
from which no man can justly take him, unless he
could secure him from error: so that here also
there is a necessity to consen^e the liberty of
prophesying and interpreting Scripture ; a ne-
cessity derived from the consideration of the
difficulty of Scripture in questions controverted,
and the uncertainty of any internal medium of
interpretation.

154 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SECTION V.

Of the insufficiency and uncertainty of Tradition
to expound Scripture, or determine Questions.

In the next place, we must consider those ex-
trinsical means of interpreting Scripture, and
determining questions, which they most of all
confide in, that restrain prophesying with the
greatest tyranny. The first and principal is
Tradition, which is pretended not only to expound
Scripture, "for it is requisite, on account of the
various turns and windings of error, that the drift
of prophetic and apostolic interpretation be regu-
lated according to the concurrent opinion of the
universal church;"* but also to propound articles
upon a distinct stock, such articles whereof there
is no mention and proposition in Scripture. And
in this topic, not only the distinct articles are clear
and plain, like as the fundamentals of faith
expressed in Scripture, but also it pretends to
expound Scripture, and to determine questions
with so mucli clarity and certainty, as there shall
neither be error nor doubt remaining ; and therefore
no disagreeing is here to be endured. And indeed
it is most true, if tradition can perform these
pretensions, and teach us plainly, and assure us
infallibly of all truths which they require us to
believe, we can, in this case, have no reason to

* " Necesse enim est propter tantos tarn varii erroris anfrac-
tus, ut propheticae et apostolicae interpretationis linea secun-
dum ecclesiastici et catholic! sensus normam dirigatur." —
Vincent. Lirinens, in Commonitor

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 155

disbelieve them, and therefore are certainly heretics
if we do ; because, without a crime, without some
human interest or collateral design, we cannot
disbelieve traditive doctrine or traditive interpret-
ation, if it be infallibly proved to us that tradition
is an infallible guide.

But here I first consider that tradition is no re-
pository of articles of faith, and therefore the not
following it is no argument of heresy ; for, besides
that I have showed Scripture in its plain expresses
to be an abundant rule of faith and manners, tra-
dition is a topic as fallible as any other; so fallible,
that it cannot be sufficient evidence to any man in
a matter of faith or question of heresy.

For, first, I find that the fathers were infinitely
deceived in their account and enumeration of
traditions; sometimes they did call some traditions
such, not which they knew to be so, but by argu-
ments and presumptions they concluded tliem so.
Such as was that of St. Austin: "What is held
by the universal church, and not known to have
been decreed by councils, is to be considered as
derived from apostolical tradition.*'-^ Now, sup-
pose this rule probable, that is the most, yet it is
not certain; it might come by custom, wl;ose
original was not known, but yet could not derive
from an apostolical principle. Now, when they
conclude of particular traditions by a general
rule, and that general rule not certain, but at the
most probable in any thing, and certainly false in
some things, it is no wonder if the productions,
that is, their judgments and pretence, fail so often.

* " Ea quae universalis tenet ecclesia nee a conciliis instituta
reperiuntur, credibile est ab apostolornra traditione descend-
isse."— Epist. cxviii. ad Sunar. de Bapt. Contr. Donat. lib. iv.
c. 24.

156 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

And if I should but instance in all the particulars
in which tradition was pretended, falsely or uncer-
tainly, in the first ages, I should multiply them to a
troublesome variety ; for it was then accounted so
glorious a thing to have spoken with the persons
of the apostles, that if any man could, with any
color, pretend to it, he might abuse the whole
church, and obtrude what he listed, under the
specious title of apostolical tradition; and it is
very notorious to every man that will but read and
observe the recognitions or Stromata of Clemens
Alexandrinus, where there is enough of such false
wares showed in every book, and pretended to be
no less than from the apostles. In the first age
after the apostles, Papias pretended he received a
tradition from the apostles, that Christ, before the
day of judgment, should reign a thousand years
upon earth, and his saints with him, in temporal
felicities ; and this thing, proceeding from so great
an authority as the testimony of Papias, drew after
it all, or most, of tlie Christians in the first three
hundred years. For, besides that the millenary
opinion is expressly taught by Papias, Justin
Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, Lactantius, Severus,
Victorinus, ApoUinaris, Nepos, and divers others,
famous in their time, Justin Martyr, in his dialogue
against Tryphon, says, it was the belief of all
Christians exactly orthodox; and yet there was
no such tradition, but a mistake in Papias ; but I
find it nowhere spoke against, till Dionysius of
Alexandria, confuted Nepos's book, and converted
Coracion, the Egyptian, from the opinion. Now,
if a tradition, whose beginning of being called so
began with a scholar of the apostles (for so was
Papias), and then continued, for some ages, upon
the mere authority of so famous .a man, did yet

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 157

deceive the church, much more fallible is the
pretence, \vhen, two or three hundred years after,
it but commences, and then, bj some learned man,
is first called a tradition apostolical. And so it
happened in the case of the Arian heresy, which
the Nicene fathers did confute by objecting a
contrary tradition apostolical, as Theodoret re-
ports;* and yet if they had not had better argu-
ments from Scripture than from tradition, they
would have failed much in so good a cause ; for
this very pretence the Arians themselves made,
and desired to be tried by the fathers of the first
three hundred years;! v/hich was a confutation
sufficient to them who pretended a clear tradition,
because it was unimaginable that the tradition
should leap so as not to come from the first to the
last by the middle. But that this trial was some-
time declined by that excellent man St. Athanasius,
although at other times confidently and truly
pretended, it was an argument the tradition was
not so clear, but both sides might with some
fairness pretend to it. And, therefore, one of
the prime founders of their heresy, the heretic,
Artemon,i having observed the advantage might
be taken by any sect that would pretend tradition,
because the medium was plausible, and consisting
of so many pai'ticulars that it was hard to be
redargued, pretended a tradition from the apostles,
that Christ was a mere man, and that the tradition
did descend by a constant succession, in the
church of Rome to pope Victor's time inclusively,
and till Zepherinus had interrupted the series, and
corrupted the doctrine ; which pretence, if it had

* Lib. i. Hist. c. 8.

t Vide Petav. in Epiph. Haer. 69.

+ Euseb. lib. v. c. ult.

158 THE SACliED CLASSICS.

not had some appearance of truth, so as possibly
to abuse the church, had not been worthy of
confutation, which yet was with care undertaken
by an old writer, out of whom Eusebius transcribes
a large passage, to reprove the vanity of the pre-
tender. But I observe from hence, that it was
usual to pretend to tradition, and that it was easier
pretended than confuted ; and I doubt not but
oftener done than discovered. A great question
arose in Africa, concerning the baptism of heretics,
whether it were valid or no. St. Cyprian and his
party appealed to Scripture ; Stephen, bisliop of
Rome, and his party, would be judged by custom,
and tradition ecclesiastical. See how much the
nearer the question was to a determination : either
that probation was not accounted by St. Cyprian,
and the bishops, both of Asia and Africk, to be a
•good argument, and sufhcient to determine them,
or there was no certain tradition against them;
for, unless one of these two do it, nothing could
excuse them from opposing a known truth ; unless,
peradventure, St. Cyprian, Firmilian, the bishops
of' Galatia, Cappadocia, and almost two parts of
the world, wei-e ignorant of such a tradition, for
they knew of none such, and some of them ex-
pressly denied it. And the sixth general synod
approves of the canon made in the council of
Carthage, under Cyprian, upon this very ground,
because " the tradition was preserved only in the
dioceses of those bishops, and according to a
custom handed down among them."* They had a
particular tradition for rebaptization ; and there-
fore, there could be no tradition universal against
it, or, if there v/ere, they knew not of it, but

* " In praBdictorum praesulum locis, et solum secundum
'traditam eis consuetudinem, servatus est."

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 159'

much for the contrary; and then, it would be
reniembered, that a concealed tradition was like
a silent thunder, or a law not promulgated ; it
neither was known, nor was obligatory. And I
shall observe this too, that this very tradition was
so obscure, and was so obscurely delivered, so
silently proclaimed, that St. Austin,'^ w^ho disputed-
against the Donatists upon this very question,
was not able to prove it, but by a consequence
which he thought probable and credible, as appears
in his discourse against the Donatists. " The
apostles," saith St. Austin, '* prescribed nothing
in this particular: but this custom, which is con-
trary to Cyprian, ought to be believed to have
come from their tradition, as many other things
which the catholic church observes." That is all
the ground and all the reason ; nay, the church
did waver concerning that question, and before
the decision of a council, Cypriant and others
might dissent without breach of charity. It was
plain, then, there was no clear tradition in the
question; possibly there might be a custom in
some churches postnate to the times of the apostles,
but nothing that was obligatory, no tradition apos-
tolical. But this was a suppletory device, ready
at hand whenever they needed it ; and St. Austini
confuted the Pelagians, in the question of original,
siuyby the custom of exorcism and insufflation,,
which, St. Austin said, came from the apostles by
tradition, which yet was then, and is now, so im-
possible to be proved, that he that shall affirm it,,
shall gain only the reputation of a bold vaan and
a confident.

* Lib. V, De Baptism. Contr. Donat. c. 23.

t Lib, i. De Baptism, c. IS.

X De Peccat. Original, lib. ii. c, 40.-contra. Pelag. ci Caelest

160 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

2. I consider, if the report of traditions in the
primitive times, so near the ages apostolical, was
so uncertain, that thej were fain to aim at them
by conjectures, and grope as in the dark, the
uncertainty is much increased since; because
there are many famous writers whose works are
lost, which yet, if they had continued, they might
have been good records to us, as Clemens Romanus,
Egesippus, Nepos, Coracion, Dionysius Areopa-
gite, of Alexandria, of Corinth, Firmilian, and
many more : and since we see pretences have
been made, without reason, in those ages where
they might better have been confuted than now
they can, it is greater prudence to suspect any
later pretences, since so many sects have been,
so many wars, so many corruptions in authors, so
many authors lost, so much ignorance hath inter-
vened, and so many interests have been served, that
now the rule is to be altered : and whereas it was
of old time credible, that that was apostolical whose
beginning they knew not; now, quite contrary, we
cannot safely believe them to be apostolical, unless
we do know their beginning to have been from the
apostles. For this consisting of probabilities and
particulars, which, put together, make up a moral
demonstration, the argument which I now urge
hath been growing these fifteen hundred years;
and if anciently there was so much as to evacuate
the authority of tradition, much more is there now
absolutely to destroy it, when all the particulars,
which time and infinite variety of human accidents
have been amassing together, are now concentered,
and are united by way of constipation. Because
every age, and every great change, and every
heresy, and every interest, hath increased the
difficulty of finding out true traditions.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. l6l

3. There are very many traditions which are
lost; and yet they are concerning matters of as
great consequence as most of those questions, for
the determination whereof traditions are pretended:
it is more than probable, that as in baptism and the
eucharist the very forms of ministration are trans-
mitted to us, so also in confirmation and ordination,
and that there were special directions for visitation
of the sick, and explicit interpretations of those
difficult places of St. Paul, which St. Peter
affirmed to be so difficult, that the ignorant do
wrest them to their own damnation ; and yet no
church hath conserved these, or those many more
which St. Basil affirms to be so many, tluit the
day would fail him in the very simple enumeration
of all traditions ecclesiastical."' And if the church
liath failed in keeping the great variety of tradi •
tions, it will hardly be thought a fault in a private
person to neglect tradition, which either tlie whole
church hath very much neglected inculpably, or
else the whole cliurch is very much to blame
And who can ascertain us that she hath not enter-
tained some which are no traditions, as well as
lost thousands that are? That she did entertain
some false traditions, I have already proved ; but it
is also as probable that some of those which these
ages did propound for traditions are not so, as it
is certain that some, which the first ages called
traditions, were nothing less.

4. There are some opinions, which when they
began to be publicly received, began to be ac-
counted prime traditions; and so became such, not
by a native title, but by adoption ; and notliing is
more usual than for the fathers to color their po-

uivov. — Cap. 29. De Spir. Sancto.
14^

162 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

pillar opinion with so great an appellative. St.
Austin called the communicating of infants an
apostolical tradition ; and yet we do not practise
it, because we disbelieve the allegation. And that
every custom, which at first introduction was but
a private fancy or singular practice, grew after-
wards into a public rite, and went for a tradition
after a while continuance, appears by Tertullian,
vv'ho seems to justify it; "You do not think it
lawful for any Christian to appoint, for discipline
and salvation, whatever he may deem well-pleas-
ing to God." And again. " Whoever tradition
be introduced by, you should regard not the au-
thor, but tlie authority.*'* And St. Jerome most
plainly : " Tlie decisions of the fathers are to. be
esteemed by all as apostolical traditions."t And
v/hen IrencXus had observed that great variety in
the keeping of Lent, which yet to be a forty day's
fast is pretended to descend from tradition apos-
tolical, some fasting but one day before Easter,
some two, some forty, and tliis even long before
Irenaeus's time, he j^ives this reason : " That
variety of fasting originated v.ith our fathers, who
did not carefully observe their custom, who either
from simplicity or personal authority, were for or-
daining rites for their posterity."."]: And there are
yet some points of good concernment, which if any

* " Non enim existimas tu licltum esse cuicunque fideli
constituere quod Deo placere illi visum fuerit, ad disciplinarn
et sal '.item. "—Contra Marcion. "A quocunque traditore
censetur, nee authorem respicida sod authoritatem." — De-
Coron. milit. c. 3 et 4.

t " Pra'cepta majorum apostolicas traditiones quisqiie
existimat." — Apud Euseb. lib. v. c. 24. .

X Varietas ilia jejunii ccepit apud majores nostros, qui
non accurate consuetudinem eorum qui vel siraplicitate qua-
dam ve] privata authoritate in posterum aliquid statuissent,
obse'-varaiit." — Ex translatione Christophersoni.

THE LIBERTY QF PROPHESYING. l63

man should question in a high manner, thej would
prove indeterminable by Scripture, or sufficient
reason ; and yet I doubt not their confident defend-
ers Avould say, they are opinions of the church, and
quickly pretend a tradition from the very apostles,
and believe themselves so secure, that they could
not be discovered ; because the question never
having been disputed, gives them occasion to say,
that which had no beginning known was certainly
from the apostles. For why should not divines do
in the question of reconfirmation as in that of re-
baptization ? Are not the grounds equal from an
indelible character in one as in tiie other ? And
if it happen such a question as this, after contest-
ation, should be determined, not by any positive
decree, but by the cession of one part, and the
authority and reputation of the other, does not the
next age stand fair to be abused with a presence
of tradition in the matter of reconfirmation, which
never yet came to a serious question ? for so it
was in the question of rebapiization ; for v.hich
there was then no more evident tradition than
there is now in the question of reconfirmation,
as I proved fonnerly, but yet it was carried upon
that title.

5. There is great variety in the probation of
tradition; so that whatever is proved to be tradi-
tion, is not equally and alike credible ; for nothing-
bat universal tradition u of itself credible ; other
traditions in their just proportion, as they partake
of the degrees of universality. Now, that a tra-
dition be universal, or, which is all one, that it be
a credible testimony, St. Irengeus-' requires that
tradition should derive from all the churches
apostolical ; and, therefore, according to this rule,

' Lib iii. c 4.

164 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

there was no sufficient medium to determine the
question about Easter, because the eastern and
western churches had several traditions respect-
ively, and both pretended from the apostles.
Clemens Alexandrinus* says, it w^as a secret tra-
dition from the apostles, that Christ preached but
one year; but Irenasust says, it did derive from
heretics ; and says, that he, by tradition, first from
St. John, and then from his disciples, received
another tradition, that Christ was almost iifty
years old wlien he died ; and so, by consequence,
preached almost twenty years : both of them were
deceived, and so had all that had believed the
report of either, pretending tradition apostolical.
Thus, the custom in the Latin church of fasting
on Saturday, was against that tradition which the
Greeks had from the apostles ; and therefore, by
tins division and want of consent, which was the
true tradition, was so absolutely indeterminable,
that both must needs lose much of their reputa-
tion. But how then, when not only particular
churches, but single persons, are all the proof we
have for a tradition ? and this often happened : I
think St. Austin is the chief argument and au-
thority we have for tlie assumption of the Virgin
Mary; the baptism of infants is called a tradition
bv Origen alone, at first, and from him by others.
The procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son,
which is an article the Greek church disavows,
derives from the tradition apostolical, as it is pre-
tended; and yet before St. Austin, we hear nothing
of it very clearly or certainly, forasmuch as that
whole mystery, concerning the blessed Spirit, was
so little explicated to Scripture, and so little de-
rived to them by tradition, that, till the council of

* Lib. i. Stroma. t Lib. ii. c. S9

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 165

Nice, you shall hardly find any form of worship,
or personal address of devotion to tlie Holj Spirit,
as Erasmus observes; and I think the contrary
will very Isardly be verified. And for this parti-
cular in which I instance, whatsoever is in Scrip-
ture concerning it, is against that which the church
of Rome calls tradition ; which makes the Greeks
so confident as they, are of the point, and is an
argument of the vanity of some things which for
no greater reason are called traditions, but because
one man hath said so, and that they can be proved
by no better argument to be true. Now, in this
case, wherein tradition descends upon us with
unequal certainty, it would be very unequal to
require of us an absolute belief of every thing
not written, for fear we be accounted to slight
tradition apostolical. And since nothing can re-
quire our supreme assent, but that which is truly
catholic and apostolical, and to such a tradition is
required, as Irena^us says, the consent of ail these
churches which the apostles planted, and where
they did preside, this topic will be of so little use
in judging heresies, that (besides what is deposited
in Scripture) it cannot be proved in any thing but
in the canon of Scripture itself; and, as it is now
received, even in that there is some variety.

And therefore there is wholly a mistake in this
business ; for when the fathers appeal to tradition,
and with much earnestness and some clamor they
call upon heretics to conform to, or to be tried by
tradition, it is such a tradition as delivers the fun-
damental points of Christianity, which were also
recorded in Scripture. But because the canon
was not yet perfectly consigned, they called to
that testimony they had, v.hich was the testimony
of the churches apostolical, w^hose bishops and

166 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

priests, beiiig the chief authonties in religion, did
believe and preach Christian religion, and conserve
all its great mysteries according as they had been
taught. Irenaeus calls this a tradition apostolical,
^' that Christ took the cup, and said it was his own
blood, and taught the new oblation of the New
Testament, which the church, receiving from the
apostles, presents throughout the whole world."*
And the fathers in these ag€S confute heretics by
ecclesiastical tradition ; that is, they confront
against their impious and blasphemous doctrines
that religion wlilch the apostles having taught to
the churches where they did preside, their suc-
cessors did still preach ; and for a long while to-
gether suffered not the enemy to sow tares amongst
their wheat. And yet these doctrines, which they
called traditions, were nothing but such funda-
mental truths which were in Scripture, all coinci-
dent with holy writ, as Irenseust in Eusebius
observes, in the instance of Polycarpus; and it is
manifest, by considering what heresies they fought
against, the heresies of Ebion, Cerinthus, Nicolai-
tans, Valentinians, Carpocratians,:]: persons that
denied the son of God, the unity of the Godhead,
..that preached impurity, that practised sorcery and
witchcraft. And now, that they did rather urge
tradition against them than Scripture, was, because
the public doctrine of all the apostolical churches
was at first more known and famous than many
parts- of Scripture; and because some heretics
-denied St. Luke's Gospel, some received none
but St. Matthew's, some rejected all St. Paul's

* " Christum accepisse calicem, et dixis.se sang^^inem suum
<3sse, et docuisse novam oblationem Novi Testamenti, quam
ecclesia per apostolos accipiens offert per totum mundum."

t Lib. V. cap. 20.

I Vide Irenae. lib. iii. et iv. Cout. Heres.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. l67

Epistles ; and it was a long time before the whole
canon was consigned bj universal testimony;
some churches having one part, some another:
Rome herself had not all : so that, in this case, the
argument from tradition was the most famous, the
most certain, and the most prudent. AHd now,
according to this rule ti.ey had more traditions
than we have; and traditions did by degrees lessen
as they came to be written, and their necessity
was less as the knowledge of them was ascertained
to us by abetter keeper of divine truths. All that
great mysteriousness of Christ's priesthood, the
unity of his sacrifice, Christ's advocation and in-
tercession for us in heaven, and many other ex-
cellent doctrines, might very well be accounte<t
traditions, before vSt. Paul's Epistle to the He-
brews was published to all the v/orld ; but now
they are written truths: and if they had not. pos-
sibly we might either have lost them quite, or
doubted of them, as we do of many other traditions,
by reason of the insufficiency of the propounder.
And therefore it was that St. Peter* took order
that the Gospel should be writ; for he had pro-
mised that he would do something which, after his
decease, should have these things in remembrance.
He knew it was not safe trusting the report of
men, where the fountain might quickly run dry,
or be corrupted so insensibly that no cure could
be found for it, nor any just notice taken of it till
it were incurable. And, indeed, there is scarce
any thing but what is written in Scripture, that
can, with any confidence of argument, pretend to
derive from the apostles, except rituals and man-
ners of ministration ; but no doctrines or specula-
tive mysteries are so transmitted to us by so clear
* 2 Pet. i. 13.

168 THE SACRFD CLASSICS.

a current, that we maj see a visj?ble channel, and
trace it to the primitive fountains. It is said to
be a tradition apostolical, that no priest should
baptize without chrism and the command of the
bishop : sumyase it were, yet we cannot be obliged
to belie^^t with much confidence, because we
have but li^t*te proof for it, scarce any thing but
the single^estimonj of St. Jeroiwc*.* And yet, if
it wereTuSs is but a ritual, of t\hich, in passing
by, I shalkgive that account, ji«t, suppose this
and many^nore rituals did derive cleitfiy from
tradition tfpostolical (which yet but ver^-'Jirw do),
yet it is hasd that any churcli should be charged
with a crime for not observing such rituals, because
we see some of them, which certainly did derive
from the apostles, are expired and gone out in a
desuetude ; such as are abstinence from blood and
from things strangled, the ccsnobitic life of secular
persons, the college of widows, to worship standing
upon the Lord's-day, to give milk and honey to
the newly baptized, and many more of the like
nature. Now, there having been no mark to dis-
tinguish the necessity of one from the indifferency
of the other, they are all alike necessary, or alike
indifterent; if the former, why does no church
observe them? if the latter, why does the church
of Rome charge upon others the shame of novelty,
for leaving of some rites and ceremonies which,
by her own practice, we are taught to have no
obligation in them, but to be adiaphorus ? St. Paul
gave order, that a bishop should be tlie husband of
one wife ; the church of Rome will not allow so
much; other churclies allow more: the apostles
commanded Christians to fast on Wednesday and
Friday, as appears in their canons ;. the church of
* Dialog, adv. Lucifer.

THE LIBERTY OF rROPHESYING. 169

Rome fasts Fnday and Saturday, and not on
Wednesday : the apostles had their agapse or love-
feasts; we should believe them scandalous; they
used a kiss of charity in ordinary addresses ; the
church of Rome keeps it only in their mass, other
churches quite omit it: the apostles permitted
priests and deacons to live in conjugal society, as
appears in the fifth canon of the apostles (which to
them is an argument who believe them such), and
yet the church of Rome by no means will endure
it ; nay more, Michael Medina'^ gives testimony,
that of eighty-four canons apostolical which Cle-
mens collected, scarce six or eight are observed by
the Latin church; and Peresius gives this account
of it : •' Among these there are many which, owing
to the corruption of the times, are not fully ob-
served ; others are rejected, on account either of
the times or the nature of them, or by the authority
of the church."! Now it were good that they
which take a liberty themselves, should also allow
the same to others. So that, for one thing or
other, all traditions, excepting those very few that
are absolutely universal, will lose all their obliga-
tion, and become no competent medium to confine
men's practices, or limit their faiths, or determine
their persuasions. Either for the difficulty of their
being proved, the incompetency of the testimony
that transmits them, or the indifferency of the thing
transmitted, all traditions, both ritual and doctrinal,
are disabled from determining our consciences
either to a necessary believing or obeying.

6. To which I add, by way of confirmation, that

* De Sacr. Horn. Continent, lib. v. cap. lOo.

t " In illis contineri multa quae temporum corruptione non
plene observantur, aliis pro temporis et materiae qualitate aut
obliteratis, aut totius ecclesiae magisterio abrogatis." — De
Tradit. part iii. c. De Author. Can. Apost.
15

170 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

there are some things called traditions, and are
offered to be proved to us by a testimony, which
is either false or not extant. Clemens of Alexan-
dria pretended it a tradition, that the apostles
preached to them that died in infidelity, even after
their death, and then raised them to life ; but he
proved it only by the testimony of the book of
Hermes. He affirmed it to be a tradition apos-
tolical, that the Greeks were saved by tiieir philo-
sophy ; but he had no other authority for it but
the apocryphal books of Peter and Paul. Tertul-
lian and St. Basil pretend it an apostolical tradi-
tion, to sign in the air with the sign of the cross :
but this was only consigned to them in the Gospel
of Nicodemus. But to instance once for all, in
the epistle of Marcellus to the bishop of Antioch,
where he affirms that it is the canons of the
apostles, " that councils cannot be held without
the consent of the Roman pontiff: and yet there
is no such canon extant, nor ever was, for aught
appears in any record we have ; and yet the col-
lection of the canons is so entire, that though it
hath something more than what was apostolical,
yet it hath nothing less. And now that 1 am
casually fallen upon an instance from the canons
of the apostles, I consider that there cannot, in
the world, a greater instance be given how easy it
is to be abused in the believing of traditions : for
first, to the first fifty, which many did admit for
apostolical, thirty-five more were added, which
most men now count spurious, all men call dubious,
and some of them universally condemned by
peremptory sentence, even by them who are great-
est admirers of that collection ; as the sixty-fifth,
sixty-seventh, and eighty-fourth and eighty-fifth
canons. For the first fifty, it is evident that

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 171

there are some things so mixed with them, and
no mark of difference left, that the credit of all
is much impaired, insomuch that Isidore of Se-
ville* says, " they were apocryphal, made by
heretics, and published under the title apostolical,
but neither the fathers nor the church of Rome
did give assent to them." And yet they have
prevailed so far amongst some, that Damascent
is of opinion they should be received equally with
the canonical writings of the apostles. One thing
only I observe (and we shall find it true in most
writings whose authority is urged in question of
theology), that the authority of the tradition is not
it which moves the assent, but the nature of the
thing; and because such a canon is delivered,
they do not therefore believe the sanction or
proposition so delivered, but disbelieve the tra-
dition, if they do not like the matter; and so
do not judge of tlie matter by the tradition, but
of the tradition by the matter. And thus the
church of Rome rejects the eighty-fourth or eighty-
fifth canon of the apostles, not because it is deli-
vered with less authority than the last thirty-five
are, but because it reckons the canon of Scripture
otherwise than it is at Rome. Thus also the fifth
canon amongst the first fifty, because it approves
the marriage of priests and deacons, does not per-
suade them to approve of it too, but itself becomes
suspected for approving it; so that either they
accuse themselves of palpable contempt of the
apostolical authority, or else that the reputation
of such traditions is kept up to serve their own
ends; and therefore, when they encounter them,
they are more to be upheld ; which what else is it,

* Apud Gratian. Dig. xvi. c. Canones.
t Lib. i.e. 18, DeOrthod. Fide.

172 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

but to teach all the world to contemn such pre-
tences, and undervalue traditions, and to supply
to others a reason why they should do that which,
to them that give the occasion, is most unrea-
sonable ?

7. The testimony of the ancient church being
the only means of proving tradition, and some-
times their dictates and doctrine being the tradi-
tion pretended of necessity to be imitated, it is
considerable that men in their estimate of it, take
their rise from several ages and differing testimo-
nies, and are not agreed about the competency of
their testimony: and the reasons that on each
side make them differ, are such as make the au-
thority itself the less authentic, and more repu-
diable. Some will allow only of the three first
ages, as being most pure, most persecuted, and
therefore most holy ; least interested, serving fewer
designs, having fewest factions, and therefore more
likely to speak the truth for God'S sake and its
own, as best complying with their great end of
acquiring heaven in recompense of losing their
lives ; others say, that those ages being persecuted,
minded the present doctrines proportionable to
their purposes and constitution of the ages, and
make little or nothing of those questions which at
this day vex Christendom.- And both speak
true ; the first ages speak greatest truth, but least
pertinently. The next ages, the ages of the four
general councils, spake some things not much
more pertinently to the present questions, but
were not so likely to speak true, by reason of
their dispositions, contrary to the capacity and
circumstances of the first ages ; and if they speak
wisely as doctors, yet not certainly as witnesses
* Vid. Card. Perron, Letre au Sieur Cassaubon.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 173

of such propositions, which the first ages noted
not ; and yet, unless thej had not noted, could not
possibly be traditions. And therefore either of
them will be less useful as to our present affairs.
For, indeed, the questions which now are the
public trouble, were not considered or thought
upon for many hundred years ; and, therefoi^,
prime tradition there is none as to our purpose ;
and it will be an insufficient medium to be used or
pretended in the determination; and to dispute
concerning the truth or necessity of traditions, in
tiie questions of our times, is as if historians, dis-
puting about a question in the English story,
should fall on wrangling whether Livy or Plutarch
were the best writers : and the earnest disputes
about traditions are to no better purpose. For no
church, at this day, admits the one half of those
things, which certainly by the fathers were called
traditions apostolical ; and no testimony of ancient
writers does consign the one half of the prcbent
questions, to be or not to be traditions. So that
tb.ey v/ho admit only the doctrine and testimony
of the first ages, cannot be determined in rnoiit of
tlieir doubts which now trouble us, because their
writings are of matters wholly diflering from the
present disputes; and they which would bring in
after ages to the authority of a competent judge
or witness, say the same thing; for they plainly
confess, that the first ages spake little or nothing
to the present question, or at least nothing to their
sense of them : for therefore they call in aid from
the following ages, and make them suppletory and
auxiliary to their designs; and therefore there are
no traditions to our purposes. And they who
would willingly have it otherwise, yet have taken
no course it should be otherwise : for they, v/hen
15*

174 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

they had opportunitj, in the councils of the last
ages, to determine M'hat thej had a mind to, yet
the J never named the number, nor expressed the
particular traditions which they would fain have
the world to believe to be apostolical ; but they
have kept the bridle in their own hards, and
luade a reserve of their own power, that if need
be, they may make new pretensions, or not be pu<
to it to justify the old, by the engagement of i.
conciliary declaration.

Lastly : We are acquitted, by the testimony oT
the primitive fathers, from any other necessity of
believing, than of such articles as are recorded in
Scripture : and this is done by them whose autho-
rity is pretended the greatest argument for tradi-
tion, as appears largely in Irenaeus,* who disputes
professedly for the sufficiency of Scripture against
certain heretics, who affirm some necessary truths
not to be written. It was an excellent saying of
St. Basil, and will never be wiped out with all the
eloquence of Perron, in his sermon deFide: " It
is a manifest departure from the faith, and mere
superciliousness, either to reject what is tauglit in
»Scripture, or to introduce any thing that is not
written."! And it is but a poor device to say.
that every particular tradition is consigned in
Scripture, by those places which give .authority t(.'
tradition; and so the introducing of tradition is
not a superinducing any thing over or besides
Scripture, because tradition is like a messenger,
and the Scripture is like his letters of credence,
and therefore authorizes whatsoever tradition

* Lib. iii. ca. 2. Contr. Hseres.

t " Manifestus est fidei lapsus, et liquidum superbice vitium,
vel respuere aliquid eorum qu£E Scriptura habet,vel inducere
quicquam quod Scriptum non est.''

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYrNG. 175

speaketh. For supposing Scripture does consign
the authority of tradition (which it might do before
all the whole instrument of Scripture itself was
consigned, and then afterwards there might be no
need of tradition), yet supposing it, it will follow
that all those traditions which are truly prime and
apostolical, are to be entertained according to the
intention of the deliverers; which, indeed, is so
reasonable of itself, that we need not Scripture to
persuade us to it: itself is authentic as Scripture
is, if it derives from the same fountain ; and the
word is never the more the Word of God for being
written ; nor the less for not being written : but
it will not follow that whatsoever is pretended to
be tradition, is so ; neither in the credit of the
particular instances consigned in Scripture, et
dolosus versatur in generaUbiis :^ but that this craft
is too palpable. And if a general and indefinite
consignation of tradition be sufficient to warrant
every particular that pretends to be tradition, then
St. Basil had spoken to no purpose, by saying it
is pride and apostacy from the faith, to bring in
wiiat is not written : for if either any man brings
in what is written, or what he says is delivered,
then the first being express Scripture, and the
second being consi;rned in Scripture, no man can
be charged with superinducing what is not written ;
he hath his answer ready; and then these are
zealous words absolutely to no purpose ; but if
such general consignation does not warrant every
thing that pretends to tradition, but only such as
are truly proved to be apostolical, then Scripture
is useless as to this particular ; for such tradition
gives testimony to Scripture, and therefore is of

* " He who wishes to deceive, occupies himself in generali.
ties."

176 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

itself first, and more credible, for it is credible of
itself; and therefore, unless St. Basil thought that
all the will of God in matters of faith and doctrine
were written, I see not what end nor what sense
he could have in these words : for no man in the
world, except enthusiasts and mad men, ever
obtruded a doctrine upon the church, but he pre
tended Scripture for it, or tradition ; and tiierefore
no man could be pressed bj these words, no man
confuted, no man instructed, no not enthusiasts
or Montanists. For suppose either of them should
saj, that since in Scripture the Holy Ghost is
promised to abide v/ith the chuixh for ever, to
teach whatever thej pretend the vSpirit in any age
hath taught them is not to superinduce any thing
beyond what is written, because the truth of the
Spirit, his veracity, and his perpetual teaching
being promised and attested in Scripture, Scrip-
ture hath just so consigned all such revelations,
as Perron saith it hath all such traditions. But 1
will trouble myself no more vvith arguments from
any human authorities: but he that is surprised
with the belief of such authorities, and will but
consider the very many testimonies of antiquity 1o
this purpose, as of Constantine,* St. Jerome,"!" St.
Austin.! St. Athanasius,§ St. Hilary, || St. Epipha--
nius,^ and divers others, all speaking words to (he
same sense with that saying of St. Paul,** 'Let
no man be wise above what is written,' will see /
that there is reason, that since no m.an is materially
a heretic, but he that errs in a point of faith, and
all faith is sufficiently recorded in Scripture, the

* Oral, ad Nicen. PP. apud. Theodor. lib. i. c. 7.
• t In Matth. lib. iv. c. 23, et in Agg-xum.
± De Bono Viduil. c. i. § Orat. contr. Gent.

II In Psal. cxxxii.
li Lib. ii . Contra H«res. tom.i. Hsr. 61. ** 1 Cor. 4.

THE LIBERTY OF TROPHESYIXG. 17T

judgment of faith and heresy is to be derived from
thence, and no man is to be condemned for dis-
senting in an article for whose probation tradition
only is pretended ; only, according to the degree
of its evidence, let every one determine himself:
but of this evidence we must not judge for others;
for unless it be in things of faith, and absolute
certainties, evidence is a word of relation, and so
supposes two terms, the object and the faculty ; and
it is an imperfect speech, to say a thing is evident
in itself (unless we speak of first principles, or
clearest revelations), for that may be evident to
one that is not so to another, by reason of the
pregnancy of some apprehensions, and the imma-
turity of others.

This discourse hath its intention in traditions,
doctrinal and ritual ; that is, such traditions whkh
propose articles essentially new ; but, now, if
Scripture be the repository of all divine truths
sufficient for us, tradition must be considered as
its instrument, to convey its great mysteriousness
to our understandings. It is said, there are
traditive interpretations, as well as traditive
propositions; but these have not much distinct
consideration in them, both because their uncer-
tainty is as great as the other, upon the former
considerations; as also, because, in very deed,
there are no such things as ti'aditive interpretations
universal : for as for particulars, they signify no
more but that they are not sufficient determinations
of questions theological; therefore, because they
are particular, contingent, and of infinite variety,
and they are no more argument than the particular
authority of those men whose commentaries they
are, and, therefore, must be considered with them.

The sum [a this : since the fathers who are the

irS THE SACRED CLASSICS.

best witnesses of traditions, jet were infinitely
deceived in their account ; since sometimes they
guessed at them, and conjectured, bj way of rule
and discourse, and not of their knowledge, not by
evidence of the thing since many are called tra-
ditions which were not so, many are uncertain
wliether they were or no, yet confidently pre-
tendetl ; and this uncertainty, which at first was
great enougli, is increased by infinite causes and
accidents, in the succession of sixteen hundred
yeai*s; since the church hath been either so care-
less or so abused, that she could not, or would
not, preserve traditions witli carefulness and truths
since it was ordinary for the old writers to set out
their own fancies, and the rites of their church,
which had been ancient, under the spacious title
ot apostolical traditions; since some -traditions
rely but upon single testimony at first, and yet
descending upon others, come to be attested by
many, whose testimony, though conjunct, yet in
value is but single, because it relies upon the first
single relater,and so can have no greater authority,
or certainty, than they derive from the single
person ; since the first ages, who were most com-
petent to consign tradition, jet did consign such
traditions as be of a nature wholly discrepant from
the present questions, and speak nothing at all, or
very imperfectly, to our purposes, and the follow-
ing ages are no fit witnesses of that vvhich was not
transmitted to tliem, because they could not know
it at all, but by such transmission and prior con-
signation ; since what at first was a tradition, came
afterwards to be written, and so ceased its being
a tradition, yet the credit of traditions commenced
upon the certainty and reputation of those truths
first delivered by word, afterward consigned by

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 179

writing; since, what was certainly tradition apos-
tolical, as many rituals were, is rejected by the
church, in several ages, and is gone out into a de-
suetude; and lastly, '^ince, beside the no necessity
of traditions, Liiere being abundantly enough in
Scripture, there are many things called traditions
by the fathers, which they themselves either
proved by no authoi^, or by apocryphal and
spurious, and heretical, — the matter of tradition
will, in very much, be so uncertain, so false, so
suspicious, so contradictory, so improbable, so
unproved, that if a question be contested, and be
offered to be proved only by tradition, it will be
very hard to impose such a proposition to the
belief of all men, with any imperiousness or re-
solved determination ; but it will be necessary
men should preserve the liberty of believing and
prophesying, and not part with it, upon a worse
merchandize and exchange than Esau made for
his birth-right.

180 THE SACRED CLASSiCS.

SECTION VI,

Of the uncertainty and insufficiency of Councih
Ecclesiastical to the same purpose.

But since we are all this while in uncertainty,
it is necessary that we should address ourselves
somewhere, where we may rest the sole of our
foot : and nature, Scripture, and experience, teach
the world, in matters of question, to submit to
some final sentence. For it is not reason, that
controversies should continue till the erring person
shall be willing to condemn himself; and the
Spirit of God hath directed us, by that great pre-
cedent at Jerusalem, to address ourselves to th(5
church that in a plenary council and assembly she
may synodically determine controversies. So that,
if a general council have determined a question ,
or expounded Scripture, we may no more dis-
believe the decree than the Spirit of God himself
who speaks in them. And, indeed, if all assem-
blies of bishops were like that first, and al!
bishops were of the same spirit of which the
apostles w^ere, I should obey their decree with
the same religion as I do tliem whose preface was,
*' It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us :"
and I doubt not but our blessed Savior intended
that the assemblies of the church should be judges
of co-ntroversies, and guides of our persuasions, in
matters of difficulty. But he also intended they
should proceed according to his will, which he had
revealed, and those precedents which he had

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 181

made authentic bj the immediate assistance of the
Holy Spirit : he hath done his part, but we do not
do ours ; and if any private person, in the sim-
plicity and purity of his soul, desires to find out
a truth, of which he is in search and inquisition, if
lie prays for wisdom, we have a promise he shall
be heard and answered liberally; and therefore
mucli more when the representatives of the catholic
church do meet, because every person there hatli,
as an individual, a title to the promise, and
another title, as he is a governor and a guide of
souls, and all of them together have another title
in their united capacity, especially, if in that
union they pray, and proceed with simplicity and
purity. So tiiat there is no disputing against the
pi-etence, and promises, and authority of general
councils: for if any one man can hope to be
guided by God's Spirit in the search, the pious,
and impartial, and unprejudicate search of truth,
then much more may a general council. If no
private man can hope for it, then truth is not ne-
cessary to be found, nor we are not obliged to
search for it, or else we are saved by chance; but
if private men can, by virtue of a promise, upon
certain conditions, be assured of finding out suffi-
cient truth, much more shall a general council.
So that I consider thus : — there are many promises
pretended to belong to general assemblies in the
church ; but I know not any ground, nor any pre-
tence, that thqy shall be absolutely assisted, with-
out any condition on their own parts, and whether
they v/ill or no ; faith is a virtue as well as charity,
and therefore consists in liberty and choice, and
hath nothing in it of necessity. There is no ques-
tion but that they are obliged to proceed according
to some rule ; for thev expect no assistance, by
IG

19^ THE SACRED CLASSICS.

way of enthusiasm; if they should, I know no
warrant for that; neither did any general council
ever offer a decree which they did not think suffi-
ciently proved by Scripture, reason, or tradition,
as appears in the acts of the councils. Now, then,
if they be tied to conditions, it is their duty to
observe them ; but whether it be certain that they
will observe them, that they will do all their duty,
that they will not sin, even in this particular, in
the neglect of their duty, that is the consideration.
So that if any man questions the title and au-
thority of general councils, and whether or no
great promises appertain to them, 1 suppose him
to be much mistaken ; but he also tliat thinks all
of them have proceeded according to rule and
reason, and that none of them were deceived,
because, possibly, they might have been truly
directed, is a stranger to the history of the church,
and to the perpetual instances and experiments
of ,the faults and failings of humanity. It is a
famous saying of St. Gregory, that he had the
four first councils in esteem and veneration, next
to the four evangelists : I suppose it was because
he did believe them to have proceeded accord-
ing to rule, and to have judged righteous judg*
ment; but why had not he the same opinion of
other councils too, which were celebrated before
his death, for he lived after the fifth general ? not
because they had not the same authority ; for that
which is warrant for one is warrant for all; but
because he was not so confident that they did
their duty, nor proceeded so without interest, as
the first four had done ; and the following coun-
cils did never get that reputation which all the
catholic church acknowledged due to the first
foui'. And in the next order were the three fol-

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 183

lowing generals; for the Greeks and Latins did
never jointly acknowledge but seven generals to
have been authentic in any sense, because they
were in no sense agreed that any more than seven
had proceded regularly and done their duty ; so
that now, the question is not whether general
councils have a promise that the Holy Ghost will
assist them ; for every private man hath that pro-
mise, that if he does his duty, he shall be assisted
sufficiently, in order to that end to which he needs
assistance ; and, therefore, much more shall ge-
neral councils, in order to that end for which
thep convene, and to which they need assistance;
that is, in order to the conservation of the faith,
for the doctrinal rules of good life, and all that
concerns the essential duty of a Christian, but
not in deciding questions to satisfy contentious,
or curious, or presumptuous spirits. But, now,
can the bishops so convened be factious, can they
be abused with prejudice, or transported with in-
terests, can they resist the Holy Ghost, can they
extinguish the Spirit, can they stop their ears, and
serve themselves upon the Holy Spirit and the
pretence of his assistances, and cease to serve him
upon themselves, by captivating their understand-
ings to his dictates, and their wills to his precepts ?
Is it necessary they should perform any condi-
tion ? Is there any one duty for them to perform
in these assemblies, a duty which they have power
to do or not do ? If so, then they may fail of it,
and not do their duty. And if the assistance of
the Holy Spirit oe conditional, then we have no
more assurance that they are assisted, than that
they do tlieir duty and do not sin.

Now, let us suppose what this duty is. Cer-
tainly, if the Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that

184 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

are lost; and all that come to the knowledge of
the truth, must come to it bj such means which
are spiritual and holy dispositions, in order to a
holy and spiritual end. They must be shod with
the preparation of i\\e Gospel of peace ; that is,
they must have peaceable and docible dispositions,
nothing with them that is violent, and resolute to
encounter those gentle and sweet assistances.
And the rule they are to follow, is the rule which
the Holy Spirit hath consigned to the catholic
church ; that is, the Holy Scripture, either entirely,
or, at least, for the greater part of the rule :* so
that, now, if the bishops be factious and p^-epOs-
sessed v/ith persuasions depending upon interest,
it is certain they may judge amiss ; and if they
recede from the rule, it is certain they do jndge
amiss. And this I say upon their grounds who
most advance the authority of general councils;
for if a general council may err, if a pope coniirm
it not, then, most certainly, if in any thing it recede
from Scripture, it docs also err; because, that they
are to expect the pope's confirmation they oft'er to
prove from Scripture. Now, if the pope''s con-
firmation be required by authority of Scripture,
and that therefore the defailance of it does evacuate
the authority of the council, then also are the
council's decree invalid, if they recede from any
other part of Scripture : so that Scripture is the
rule they are to follow ; and a man would have
thought it had been needless to have proved it,
but that we are fallen into ages in which no truth
is certain, no reason concluding, nor is there any
thing that can convince some men. For Stapleton,f

* Vid. Optat. Milev. lib. v. adv. Farm. Baldvin in evindcm.
et St. August, in Ps. xxi. Expos. 2.
t Relect. Controv. iv. q. 1. a. 3.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 185

with extreme boldness, against the pietj of
Christendom, against the public sense of the
ancient church, and the practice of all pious
assemblies of bishops, affirms the decrees of a
council to be binding, ''though not jet conarmed
bv the probable testimony of the Scriptures;* naj,
though it be quite unauthorized by the Scriptures;
but all wise and good men have ever said that
sense which St. Hilary expressed in these words:
"I will never defend what is not in the Gospel."t
This was it which the good emperor Constantine
propounded to the fathers met at Nice : " The
Gospels, the writings of the apostles and ancient
prophets, plainly teach us what we ought to believe
in religion."! -^'^^^^ ^'^^^ is confessed by a sober
man of the Roman church itself, the cardinal of
Cnsa: ''Whatever we are bound to follow, ought
to be found in the authorized books of Scripture."§
Nov/, then, all the advantage I shall take from
hence, is this, that if the apostles commended them
who examined theii- sermons by their conformity
to the law and the prophets, and the men of Berea
were accounted noble for searching the Scriptures
whether those things which they taught were so or
no, I suppose it will not. be denied, but the coun-
cil's decrees may also be tried whether they be
conform to Scripture, yea or no; and although no
man can take cognizance and judge the decrees

* "Etiamsi non confirmetur ne probabiii testimonio Scrip-
turarum."

t " Qiios extra evangelium sunt non defemlam." — Lib. ii.
ad Constant.

X "Libri evangelic'., oracula apostornm, et veterum pro-
phetarum clare nos insa-uunt quid sentiendum in divinis." —
Apud Theodor. lib. i. c. 7.

§ " Opnrtet quod omnia talia quae legere debent, contine-
antnr in authoritatibus sacrarum Scripturarum." — Concord.
Cathol. lib. ii. c. 10.

16^^ ^

186 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

of a council, as by public authority (pro authori-
tate publica), yet, for private and individual in-
formation (pro informatio7ie privata), they may ;
the authority of a council is not greater than the
authority of the apostles, nor their dictates more
sacred or authentic. Now, then, put case, a
council should recede from Scripture ; whether or
no, were we bound to believe its decrees } I only
ask the question ; for it were hard to be bound to
believe what to our understandings seems contrary
to that which we knov/ to be the Word of God ;
but if we may lawfully recede from the council's
decrees, in case they be contrariant to Scripture,
it is all that I require in tliis question : for if they
be tied to a rule ; then they are to be examined and
understood according to the rule, and then we are
to give ourselves that liberty of judgment which is
requisite to distinguish us from beasts, and to put
us into a capacity of reasonable people, following
reasonable guides. But, however, if it be certain
that the councils are to follow Scripture, then if
it be notorious that they do recede from Scripture,
we are sure we must obey God rather than men ;
and then we are well enough. For, unless we are
bound to shut our eyes, and not to look upon the
sun, if we may give ourselves liberty to believe
what seen^s most plain, and unless the authority
of a council be so great a prejudice as to make us
to do violence to our understanding, so as not to
disbelieve the decree because it seems contrary to
Scripture, but to believe it agrees with Scripture,
though we know not how, therefore, because the
council hath decreed it, — unless, I say, we be bound
in duty to be so obediently blind and sottish, we
are sure that there are some councils which are
pretended general, tVt have retired from the

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 187

public notorious words and sense of Scripture.
For what wit of man can reconcile the degree of
the thirteenth session of the council of Constance
w^ith Scripture, in which session the half-com-
munion was decreed, in defiance of Scripture, and
with a non obstante (notwithstanding) to Christ's
institution ? It is certain Christ's institution, and
the council's sanction are as contrary as light and
darkness. Is it possible for any man to contrive
a way to make the decree of the council of Trent,
commanding the public offices of the church to be
in Latin, friends with the fourteenth chapter of
tlie Corinthians? It is not amiss to observe how
the hyperaspists of that council sweat to answer the
allegations of St. Paul, and the wisest of them do
it so extremely poor, that it proclaims to all the
world, that the strongest man that is cannot eat
iron, or swallow a rock. Now, then, would it not
be an unspeakable tyranny to all wise persons
(who as much hate to have their souls enslaved as
their bodies imprisoned), to command them to be-
lieve that these decrees are agreeable to the Word
of God ? Upon whose understanding soever these
are imposed, they may, at the next session, recon-
cile them to a crime, and make any sin sacred, or
persuade him to believe propositions contradictory
to a mathematical demonstration. All the argu-
ments in the v/orld that can be brought to prove
the infallibility of councils, cannot make it so cer-
tain that they are infallible, as these two instances
do prove infallibly that these were deceived ; and
if ever we may safely make use of our reason, and
consider whether councils have erred or no, we
cannot by any reason be more assured, that they
have or have not, than we have in these particulars :
so that, either our reason is of no manner of use in

188 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the discussion of this question, and the thing itself
is not at all to be disputed, or if it be, we are
certain that these actually were deceived, and we
must never hope for a clearer evidence in any
dispute. And if these be, others might have been,
if they did as these did ; that is, depart from their
rule. And it was wisely said of Cusanus, "The
experience of it is notorious, that councils may
err:"* and all the arguments against experience
are but plain sophistry.

And, therefore, I make no scruple to slight the
decrees of such councils, wherein the proceedings
were as prcjudicate and unreasonable as in the
council wherein Abailardus was condemned, where
the presidents having pronounced Damnamus,
they at the lower end, being awaked at the noise,
heard the latter part of it, and concurred as far
as mnamus went; and that was as good as dain-
namus ; for if they had been awake at the pro-
nouncing the whole word, they would have given
sentence accordingly. But, by this means, St.
Bernard numbered the major part of voices against
his adversary, Abailardus ;t and as far as these
men did do their duty, the duty of priests and
judges, and wise men, so we may presume them
to be assisted, but no further. But I am content
this (because but a private assembly) shall pass for
no instance. But what shall we say of all the
Arian councils, celebrated with so great fancy,
and such numerous assemblies? We all say
that they erred. And it will not be sufficient to
say they were not lawful councils ; for they were
convened by that authority which all the world

* "Notandura est experimenforerum universale concilium
posse tleficere." — Lib. ii. c. 14, Concord. Cathol.
I Epist. Abailardi ad Heliss. Conjugem.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 189

knows did, at that time, convocate councils, and
by which (as it is confessed and is notorious*) the
first eight generals did meet; that is, by the
authority of the emperor, all were called, and as
many and more did come to them, than came to
the most famous council of Nice: so that the
councils were lawful, and if they did not proceed
lawfully, and therefore did err, this is to say, that
councils are then not deceived, when they do their
duty, when they judge impartially, when they
decline interest, when they follow their rule; but
this says, also, that it is not infallibly certain that
they will do so ; for these did not, and therefore
the others may be deceived as v/ell as these were.
But another thing is in the wind ; for councils not
confirmed by the pope, have no warrant that they
shall not err ; and they, not being confirmed, there-
fore failed. But whether is the pope's confirma-
tion after the decree, or before ? It cannot be
supposed before ; for there is nothing to be
confirmed till the decree be made, and the article
composed. But if it be after, then, possibly, the
pope's decree may be requisite, in solemnity of
law, and to make the authority popular, public,
and human ; but the decree is true or false before
the pope's confirmation, and is not at all altered
by the supervening decree, which being postnate
to the decree, alters not what went before. *• Our
opinion of a previous as fact is not to be determined
by a subsequent decree,"t is the voice both of law
and reason. So that it cannot make it divine, and
necessary to be heartily believed. It may make
it lawful, not make it true : that is, it may possibly
by such means become a law^, butjiot a truth. I

*Cusanus, lib. ii. cap. 25, Concord.

t "Nunquam enim crescit ex post facto praeteriti sestimatio."

190 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

speak now upon supposition the pope's confirma-
tion were necessary, and required to the making
of conciliary and necessary sanctions. But if it
were, the case were very hard ; for suppose a
heresy should invade, and possess the chair of
Rome, what remedy can the church have in that
case, if a general council be of no authority with-
out the pope confirm it? Will the pope confirm
a council against himself? Will he condemn his
own heresy ? That the pope may be a heretic
appears in the canon law,* which says he may, for
heresy, be deposed ; and therefore, by a council,
which, in this case, hath plenary authority with-
out the pope. And, therefore, in the synod at
Rome, held under pope Adrian II. the censure of
the sixth synod against Honorius, who was
convict of heresy, is approved, with this appendix,
that in this case, the case of heresy, *' inferiors
may judge of their superiors" [minores possint de
majoribus judicare) : and, therefore, if a pope were
above a council, yet when the question is con-
cerning heresy, the case is altered ; the pope may
be judged by his inferiors, who, in this case, which
is the main case of all, become his superiors.
And it is little better than impudence to pretend
that all councils were confirmed by the pope, or
that there is a necessity in respect of divine
obligation, that any should be confirmed by him,
more than by another of the patriarchs. For the
council of Chalcedon itself, one of those four
which St. Gregory did revere next to the four
Evangelists, is rejected by pope Leo, who, in his
fifty-third epistle to Anatolius, and in his fifty-
fourth to Martian, and in his fifty-fifth to Pul-

* Dist. xl. Can. si Papa.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 191

cheria, accuses it of ambition and inconsiderate
temerity ; and, therefore, no fit assembly for the
habitation of the Holy spirit. And Gelasius, in
his tome, Be Vinculo Anathcmatis, affirms, that
the council is in part to be received, in part to be
rejected ; and compares it to heretical books of a
mixed matter, and proves his assertion by the
place of St. Paul : 'Prove all things: hold fast
that which is good ;'* and Bellarm.ine says the
same : " In the council of Chalcedon some thinss
are good, some bad ; some are to be received, and
some rejected ; as is the case in regard to the books
of heretics;"! and if any thing be false, then all
is questionable, and judicable, and discernable,
and not infallible antecedently. And however
that council hath, ex post facto, and by the volun-
tary consenting of after ages, obtained great repu-
tation ; yet they that lived immediately after i^,
that observed all the circumstances of the thing,
and the disabilities of the persons, and tlie
uncertainty of the truth of its decrees, by reason
of the unconcludino-ness of the arg-uments brou2;ht
to attest it, were of another mind. "As to the
council of Chalcedon, it was neither openly
acknowledged by the churches, nor rejected by all :
for the authorities, in every church, were guided
by their own judgment;"! and so did all men in
the world, that were not mastered with prejudices,
and undone in their understanding with acci-

* De Laicis, lib. iii. c. 20. § ad. hoc ult.

t "In concilio Chalcedonensi quasdam sunt bona, quaedam
mala, quaedam recipienda, quaedam rejicienda ; ita et in libris
hajreticorum."

X "Quod autem ad concilium Chalcedonense attinet, illud
id temporis (viz. Anastasii Imp.) neqne palam in ecclesiis
sanctissimis prffidicatum fuit, neque ab omnibus rejectum,
nam singuli ecclesiarnm prassides pro sac aibitratu in ea re
eirerunt. " — Evas:, lib. iii. c. 30.

192 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

dental impertinences; thej judged upon those
grounds which they had and saw, and suffered
not themselves to be bound to the imperious
dictates of other men, who are as^ uncertain In
their determinations as others in their questions.
And it is an evidence that there is some deception
and notable error, either in the thing or in the
manner of their proceeding, when the decrees of a
council shall have no authority from the compilers,
nor no strengtJi from the reasonableness of the
decision, but from the accidental approbation of
posterity ; and if posterity had pleased, Origen had
believed well, and been an orthodox person. And
it was pretty sport to see that Papias, was ri<!;ht
for two ages together, and wrong ever since ; ;ind
just so it was in councils, particularly in this of
Chalcedon, that had a fate alterable accordino; to
the age, and according to the climate, which, to
my understanding, is nothing else but an argument
that the business of infallibility is a later device,
and commenced to serve such ends as cannot be
justified by true and substantial grounds; iuid
that the pope should confirm it as of necessity, is
a fit cover for the same dlsli.

In the sixth general council, Ilonorius, pope of
Rome, was condemned ; did that council stay for
the pope's confirmation, before they set forth their
decree ? Certainly they did not think it so need-
ful, as that they would have suspended or cassated
the decree, in case the pope had then disavowed
it ; for besides the condemnation of pope Ilono-
rius for heresy, the thirteenth and iifty-fiftli
canons of that council are expressly against iliQ
custom of the church of Rome. But tiiis parti-
cular is involved in that new question, whethjSr
the pope be above a council. Now, since ^Qe

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 193

contestation of this question, there was never any
free or lawful council tliat deterniined for the
pope ; it is not likely any should ; and is it likely
that any pope will confirm a council that does
not? For the council of Basil is therefore' con-
demned by the last Lateran,* which was an as-
sembly in the pope's own palace ; and the council
of Constance is of no value in this question, and
slighted in a just proportion, as that article is
disbelieved. But I will not much trouble the
question with a long consideration of this parti-
cular; the pretence is senseless and illiterate,
against reason and experience, and already de-
termined by St. Austin sufficiently, as to this
particular; *' We may be allowed to think the
bishops, who gave their judgment at Rome, were
not good judges: there still remained the full
council of the whole church, whtre the cause
might yet be discussed witli those judges them-
selves, and their decree annulled, if they were
convicted of pronouncing a wrong judgment.''t
For since popes may be parties, may be Simoniacs,
schismatics, heretics, it is against reason that in
their own causes they sliould be judges, or that in
any causes they should be superior to their judges.
And as it is against reason, so is it against all
experience too ; for the council Sinuessanum (as
it said) was convened to take cognizance of pope
Marcellinus ; and divers councils were held at
Rome to give judgment in the causes of Damasus,
Sixtus III, Symmachus, and Leo III, and IV ; as

* Vid. postea de Concil. Sinuessiano. § 6. N. 9.

t "Ecce putemus illos episcopos qui Romae jiKlicaverunt,
non bonos judices fuisse ; restabat adhuc plenarium ecclesiae
universae concilium, ubi etiarn cum ipsis judicibus causa
possit agitari, ut si male judicasse convicti essent eorum
sententise solverentur."— Epist. xvi. ad Glorium.
17

194 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

is to be seen in Platina, and the tomes of the
councils. And it is no answer to this and the
like allegations, to say, in matters of fact and
human constitution the pope may be judged by a
council, but in matters of faith all the world
must stand to the pope's determination and au-
thoritative decision ; for if the pope can, by any
color, pretend to any thing, it is to a supreme
judicature in matters ecclesiastical, positive and
of fact; and if he fails in this pretence, he will
hardly hold up his head for any thing else ; for
the ancient bishops derived their faith from the
fountain, and held that in the liighest tenure, even
from Christ their liead; but, by reason of the
imperial city,* it became the principal seat ; and
he surprised the highest judicature, partly by the
concession of pthers, partly by his own accidental
advantages; and yet even in these things, al-
, though he was major singulis, "superior to each
singly," yet he was minor universis, " inferior to
all of them together."! And this is no more than
wliat was decreed of the eighth general synod ;
which, if it be sense, is pertinent to this question ;
for general council are appointed to take cogni-
zance of questions and differences about the
bishop of Rome; ''not however to give sentence
against him audaciously."^ By audaciously, ^s
is supposed, is meant hastily and unreasonably;
but, if to give sentence against him be wholly for-
bidden, it is nonsense; for to what purpose is an
authority of taking cognizance, if they have no
power of giving sentence, unless it were to defer
it to a superior judge, which in this case cannot
be supposed ? for either the pope himself is to

* Vide Concil. Chalced. act. 15. f Act. ult. Can. xxi.

* " Non tamen audactcr in eum t'erre aenlentiam."

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 195

judge his own cause after their examination of
him, or the general council is to judge him; so
that although the council is, bj that decree, en-
joined to proceed modestly and warily, yet they
may proceed to sentence, or else the decree is
ridiculous and impertinent.

But, to clear all, I will instance in matters of
question and opinion ; for not only some councils
have made their decrees without or against the
pope, but some councils have had the pope's con-
firmation, and yet have not been the more legiti-
mate or obligatory, but are known to be heretical.
For the canons of the sixth synod, although some
of them were made against the popes and the
custom of the church of Rome, l nope, awhile
after did confirm the council; and ^ et the canons
are impious and heretical, and so esteemed by the
church of Rome herself. I instance in the second
canon, which approves of that synod of Carthage ;
under Cyprian, for rebaptizati^n of heretics ; and
the seventy-second canon, that dissolve3 marriage
between persons of differing persuasion in matters
of Christian religio-n ; and yet these canons were
approved by pope Adrian I, who, in his epistle to
Tharasius, which is in the second act of the seventh
synod, calls them canones divine et legaliter prae-
dicatos, " canons divinely and legally ordained."
And these canons were used by pope Nicholas I,
in his epistle ad Michaelem, and by Innocent III.
So that now (that we may apply this) there are
seven general councils which by the church of
Rome are condemned of error : — the council of
Antioch,* A. D. 345, in which St. Athanasius was
condemned ; the council of Millain, A. D. 354, of

• Vid. Socra. lib. ii. c. 5, et Sozomen. lib. iii. c. 5.

196 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

above three hundred bishops ; the council of Ari-
minum, consisting of six hundred bishops ; the
second council of Ephesus, A. D. 449, in which
the Eutjchian heresy was confirmed, and tlie
patriarch Flavianus killed by the faction of Dios-
corus ; the council of Constantinople under Leo
Isaurus, A. D. 730; another at Constantinople,
thirty -five years after ; and lastly, the council at
Pisa, one hundred and thirty-four years since.*
Now that these general councils are condemned,
is a sufficient argument that councils may err:
and it is no answer to say, they were not con-
firmed by the pope ; for the pope's confirmation I
have shown not to be necessary ; or if it were, yet
even that also is an argument that general coun-
cils may become invalid, either by their own fault,
or by some extrinsical supervening accident,
either of which evacuates their authority ; and
whether all that is required to the legitimation of
a council, was actually observed in any council,
is so hard to determine, that no man can be in-
fallibly sure that such a council is authentic and
sufficient probation.

2. And that is the second thing I shall observe ;
There are so many questions concerning the ef-
ficient, the form, the matter of general councils,
and their manner of proceeding, and their final
sanction, that after a question is determined by a
conciliary assembly, there are, perhaps, twenty
more questions to be disputed, before we can, with
confidence, either believe the council upon its mere
authority, or obtrude it upon others. And upon
this ground, how easy it is to elude the pressure

* Greojor. in Regist. lib. iii. caus. 7. ait, Concilium Numi-
diae errasse. Concilium Aquisj^rani erravit. De raptore et
rapta dist. xx. can. de Libellis, in glossa.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 197

of an argument drawn from the authority of a ge-
neral council, is very remarkable in the question
about the pope's or the council's superiority, which
question, although it be defined for the council
against the pope by five general councils, the
council of Florence, of Constance, of Basil, of Pisa,
and one of the Laterans, yet the Jesuits, to this
day, account this question undetermined, and have
rare pretences for their escape. As, first ; it is
true a council is above a pope, in case there be no
pope, or he uncertain ; which is Bellarmine's an-
swer, never considering whether he spake sense
or no, not yet remembering that the council of
Basil deposed Eugenius, who was a true pope, and
so acknowledged. Secondly, sometimes the pope
did not confirm these councils; that is their
answer: and although it was an exception that
the fathers never tliought of, when they were
pressed with the authority of the council of Ari-
minum, or Syrmium, or any other Arian conven-
tion ; yet the council of Basil was convened by
pope Martin V, then, in its sixteenth session,
declared by Eugenius IV to be lawfully continued,
and confirmed expressly in some of its decrees by
pope Nicholas, and so stood till it was at last
rejected by Leo X, very many years after. But
that came too late, and with too visible an interest ;
and this council did decree, " that a council is to
be considered as superior to a pope."" But if
one pope confirms it and another rejects it, as it
happened in this case, and in many more, does it
not destroy the competency of the authority ?
And we see it by this instance, that it so serves
the turns of men, that it is good in some cases ;
that is, when it makes for them, and invalid when

* " Fide Caiholica tenendum concilium eise 3ur)r2 panam."

17^

198 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

it makes against them. Thirdly : but it is a little
more ridiculous in the case of the council of
Constance, whose decrees were confirmed by-
Martin V. But that this may be no argument
against them, Bellarmine tells you, he only con-
firmed those things qux facta fuer ant condliariter,
re diligenter examinata, " which were done with
his concurrence, after his diligent examination ;"
of which there being no mark, nor any certain rule
to judge it, it is a device that may evacuate any
thing we have a mind to ; it was not done concili-
ariter^ that is, not according to our mnid ; for
conciliariter is a fine new nothing, that may signify
what you please. Fourthly : but other devices yet
more pretty they have ; as whether the council of
Lateran was a general council or no, they know
not (no, nor will not know); which is a wise and
plain reservation of their own advantages, to make
it general or not general, as shall serve their turns.
Fifthly : as for the council of Florence they are
not sure whether it hath defined the question
"openly enough,-' satis aperte ; aperte they will
grant, if you will allow them not satis aperte.
Sixthly and lastly : the council of Pisa is '' neither
approved nor disallowed ;"* which is the greatest
folly of all, and most prodigious vanity ; so that,
by something or other, either they were not con-
vened lawfully, or they did not proceed concili-
ariter, or it is not certain that the council was
general or no, or whether the council were appro -
batum, or reprobatiim ; or else it is parthn confir-
mafwn, partim reprobatiim ;\ or else it is neque
approbatum, neque reprobatum ;% by one of these

* "Neque approbatura neque reprobatum." — Bellar. De
Cone. lib. i. c. 8.

I " Partly confirmed and partly disallowed."
i " Neither approved nor yet disallowed."

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 199

ways, or a device like to these, all councils and
all decrees shall be made to signify nothing, and
to have no authority.

3. There is no general council that hath deter-
mined that a general council is infallible : no
Scripture hath recorded it ; no tradition universal
hath transmitted to us any such proposition ; so
that we must receive the authority at a lower rate,
and upon a less probability than the things con-
signed by that authority. And it is strange that
the decrees of councils should be esteemed au-
thentic and infallible, and yet it is not infallibly
certain, that the councils themselves are infallible,
because the belief of the councils' infallibility is
not proved to us by any medium but such as may
deceive us.

4. But the best instance that councils are some,
and may all be deceived, is the contradiction of
one council to another ; for in tliat case both
cannot be true, and which of them is true, must
belong to another judgment, which is less than the
solemnity of a general council ; and the determin-
ation of this matter can be of no greater certainty
after it is concluded than when it was propounded
as a question ; being it is to be determined by the
same authority, or by a less than itself. But for
this allegation we cannot want instances : the council
of Trent* allov/s picturing of God the Father ; the
council of Nice altogether disallows it: the same
Nicene council, t which was the seventh general,
allows of picturing Christ in the form of a lamb;
but the sixth synod by no means will endure it, as
Caranza affirms. The council of Neoc£esarea,t
confirmed by Leo IV., dist. xx. de LibelllSy and
approved by the first Nicene council, as it is said

* Ses3. XXV. t Act. ii. ^ Can. Ixxxii.

200 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

in the seventh session of the council of Florence,
forbids second marriages, and imposes penances
on them that are married the second time, forbid-
ding priests to be present at such marriage feasts ;
besides that this is expressly against the doctrine
of St. Paul, it is also against the doctrine of the
council of Laodicea,* which took off such penances,
and pronounced second marriages to be free and
lawful. Nothing is more discrepant than the third
council of Carthage and the council of Laodicea,
about assignation of the canon of Scripture, and
yet the sixtli general synod approves both : and I
would fain know, if all general councils are of the
same mind with the fathers of the council of
Carthage, who reckon into the canon five books of
Solomon. I am sure St. Austin! reckoned but
three, and I think all Christendnm beside are of
the same opinion. And if we look into the title
of the law de concilm called Concordantia dis-
cordaritiarum, we shall find instances enough to
confirm, that the decrees of some councils are
contradictory to others, and that no wit can
reconcile them : and whether they did or no, that
they miglit disagree, and former councils be
corrected by later, Vv'as the belief of the doctors
in those ages in which the best and most famous
councils were convened ; as appears in that famous
saying of St. Austin, speaking concerning the
rebaptizingof heretics ; and how much the Africans
were deceived in that question, he answers the
allegation of the bishops' letters, and those national
councils which confirmed St. Cyprian's opinion,
by saying, that they were no final determination.
,Not> only the occasion of the question, being a,
matter not of fact but of faith, as being instanced
♦ Cap. 1. t Lib. xvii. De Cul. Dei. c. 20.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 201

Id the question of rebaptization, but also the very
fabric and economy of the words, put by all the
answers of those men who think themselves pressed
with the authority of St. Austin. " For, as
national councils may correct the bishops' letters,
and general councils may correct national, so the
later general may correct the former ;"* that is, have
contrary and better decrees of manners, and better
determinations in matters of faith. And frt)m hence
hath risen a question, whether is to be received the
former or the later councils, in case they contradict
each other. The former are nearer the fountains
apostolical, the later are of greater consideration ;
the first have more authority, the later more reason ;
the first are more venerable, the later more inquisi-
tive and seeing. And, now, what rule shall we have
to 'determine our beliefs, whether to authority or
reason ; the reason and the authority botli of them
not beino; the hio-hest in their kind, both of them
being repudiable, and at most but probable ? And
here it is that this great uncertainty is such as not
to determine any body, but fit to serve every body :
and it is sport to see that Bellarminet will, by all
means, have the council of Carthage preferred
before the council of Laodicea, because it is later;
and yet he prefers the second Nicene council^
before the council of Frankfort, because it is elder.
St. Austin would have the former generals to be
mended by the later; but Isidore, in Gratian says,
" When councils do difter, the elder must carry
it:"§ and indeed these probables are buskins to

* " Episcoporum lilerce emendari possunt a conciliis nation-
alibus, conciUa nationalia a plenariis, ipsaque plenaria priora
a posterioribus emendari." — Lib. ii. De Bapt. Donat. c. 3.

t Lib. ii. De Cone. c. 8, § Respondeo in primis.

X Ibid. § De Concilio autem.

^ Dist. XX. Can. Domino Sancto.

£02 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

serve every foot; and they are like magnum et.
parvum, they have nothing of their own, all that
they have is in comparison of others: so these
topics have nothing of resolute and dogmatical
truth, but in relation to such ends as an interested
person hath a mind to serve upon them.

D. There are many councils corrupted, and many
pretended and alleged, when there were no such
things ; both which make the topic of the authority
of councils to be little and inconsiderable. There
is a council brought to light, in the editions of
councils, by Binius, viz. Sinuessanum, pretended
to be kept in the year 303 ; but it was so private
till then, that we find no mention of it in any
ancient record ; neither Eusebius, nor Rufinus,
St. Jerome, nor Socrates, Sozomen, nor Theo-
doret,norEutropius, nor Bede, knew any thing of
it ; and the eldest allegation of it is by pope
Nicholas I, in the ninth century. And he that
shall consider, that three hundred bishops, in the
midst of horrid persecutions (for so then they
were), are pretended to have convened, will need
no greater argument to suspect the imposture :
besides, he that was tlie framer of the engine did
not lay his ends together handsomely ; for it is
said, that the deposition of Marcellinus, by the
synod, was told to Diocletian when he was in the
Persian war ; whereas it is known, before that
time he had returned to Rome, and triumphed for
his Persian conquest, as Eusebius in his chronicle
reports: and this is so plain that Binius and Baro-
nius pretend the text to be corrupted, and so go
to mend it by such an emendation as is a plain
contradiction to the sense, and that so unclerk-
like, viz. by putting in two words and leaving out

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 203

one;* which, whether it may be allowed them bj
anj licence less than poetical, let critics jutlge.
St. Gregory saith,t that the Constantlnopolitans
had corrupted the sjnod of Chalcedon, and that
he suspected the same concerning the Ephesine
council : and, in the fifth synod, there was a noto-
rious prevarication, for there were false epistles
of pope Vigilius and Menna, the patriarch of Con-
stantinople, inserted ; and so they passed for
authentic till they were discovered in the sixth
general synod, Actions xii. and xiv. And not
only false decrees and actions may creep into the
codes of councils, but sometimes the authority of
a learned man may abuse the church with pre-
tended decrees, of which there is no copy or
shadow in the code itself: and thus Thomas
Aquinas says,! that the Epistle to the Hebrews
was reckoned in the canon by the Nicene council ;
no shadow of which appears in t'.iose copies we
now have of it; and this pretence and the reputa-
tion of the man prevailed so far v.ith Melchior
Canus, the learned bishop of the Canaries, ihat
he believed it upon this ground, "that so holy a
man would not have asserted sucli a thing, if he
had not been fully assured of it:"!l and tliere are
many things which have prevailed upon less reason
and a more slight authority. And that very
council of Nice hath not only been pretended by
Aquinas, but very much abused by others ; and

* Pro, Cum esset in bello Persarum, les;! volunt. Cum
reversus esset a bello Persarum. — Euseb. Chronicon. nde
Binium in Notis ad Concil. Sinuessanura. torn. i. Concil. et
Baron. Annal. tom.iii. A. D. 303. num. 107.

t Lib. V. Ep. 14, ad Narsem.

X Comment, in Hebr.

II " Vir sancius rem adeo gravem non astrueret, nisi com-
pertum habuisset."

204 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

its authority and great reputation hath made it
more liable to the fraud and pretences of idle
people : for whereas the Nicene fathers made but
twenty canons, for so many and no more were
received by Cecilian-^ of Carthage, that was at
Nice in the council ; by St. Austint and two hun-
dred African Bishops with him ; by St. Cyril J of
Alexandria:!! by Atticus of Constantinople ;§ by
Ruffinus, Isidore, and Theodoret, as Baronius^
witnesses : yet there are fourscore lately found
out, in an Arabian manuscript, and published in
Latin by Turrian and Alfonsus of Pisa, Jesuits
surely, and like to be masters of the mint. And
not only the canons, but the very acts of the
Nicene councils are false and spurious, and are so
confessed by Baronius ; though how he and Lin-
danus ** will be reconciled upon the point, I neither
know well nor much care. Now, if one council
be corrupted, we see, by the instance of St.
Gregory, that another may be suspected, and so
all ; because he found the council of Chalcedon
corrupted, he suspected also the Ephesine ; and
another might have suspected more, for the Nicene
was tampered foully with ; and so three of the
four generals were sullied and made suspicious,
and therefore we could not be secure of any. If
false acts be inserted in one council, who can
trust the actions of any, unless he had the keep-
ing the records himself, or durst swear for the
register ? And if a very learned man (as Thomas
Aquinas was) did either willfully deceive us, or

* Con. Carthag. vi. c. 9. f Con. African.

X Ibid. c. 102, et c. 133. || Lib. i. Ecci. Hist. c. 6.

§ In Princ. Con. de Synod. Princ.

IT Baronius, torn. iii. A. D. 325. n. 156. torn. iii. ad A. D
325. n. 62, 63.

**Pampl. lib, ii. c. 6. • •

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 205

was himself ignorantly abused, in allegation of a
canon which was not, it is but a \erv fallible topic
at the best, and the most holy man that is may be
abused himself^ and the wisest may deceive
others.

6. And, lastly; To all this and to the former
instances, by way of corollary, I add some more
particulars, in which it is notorious that councils
general and national, that is, such as were either
general by original, or by adoption into the canon
of the catholic church, did err, and were actually

deceived. The first council of Toledo admits to
the communion him that hath a concubine, so he
have no wife besides ; and this council is approved
by pope Leo, in the ninety-second epistle to Rus-
ticus, bishop of Narbona : Gratian says,* that the
council means by a concubine, a wife married
" without a portion and due solemnity," sine dote
et solennitate: but this is daubing with untem-
pered mortar. For, though it was a custom
amongst the Jews to distinguish wives from their
concubines by dowry and legal solemnities, yet the
Christian distinguished them no otherwise than
as lawful and unlawful, than as chastity and for-
nication. And, besides, if by a concubine is
meant a lawful wife without a dowry, to w^hat
purpose should the council make a law that such
a one might be admitted to the communion ? for
I suppose it was never thought to be a law of
Christianity, that a man should have a portion
with his wife, nor he that married a poor virgin
should deserve to be excommunicate. " So that
Gratian and his follov/ers are pressed so with this
canon, that, to avoid the impiety of it, they ex-

• Dist. xxxiv. Can. omnibus
18

206 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

pound it to a signification without sense or pur-
pose. But the business then was, that adultery
was so public and notorious a practice, that the
council did choose rather to endure simple forni-
cation, that bj such permission of a less, they
might slacken the public custom of a greater;
just as at Rome they permit stews, to prevent
unnatural sins: but that, by a public sanction,
fornicators, habitually and notoriously such, should
be admitted to the holy communion, was an act of
priests so unfit for priests that no excuse can make
it white or clean. The council of Wormes'- does
authorize a superstitious custom, at that time too
mucli used, of discovering stolen goods by the
holy sacrament, vv'hich Aquinast justly condemns
for superstition. The sixth synod| separates
persons lawfully married, upon an accusation and
crime of heresy. The Roman council, under Pope
Nicholas Il,§ defined, that not only the sacraihent
of Christ's body, but the very body itself of our
blessed Savior is handled and broke by the hands
of the priest, and chewed by the teeth of the com-
municants; which is a manifest error, derogatory
from the truth of Christ's beatifical resurrection,
and glorification in the heavens, and disavowed
by the church of Rome itself; but Bellarmine,^!
that answers all the arguments in the world,
whether it be possible or not possible, would fain
make the matter fair, and the decree tolerable;
for, says he, the decree means that the body is
broken not in itself but in sign : and yet the
decree says, that not only the sacrament (which,
if any thing be, is certainly the sign) but the very

* Cap. 3. t Part. iii. q. SO, a. 6. ad 3. m. J Can. Ixxii.
§ Can. eg^o Berengar, de Consecrat. dist. ii.
H Lib. ii. c. 3, De Concil.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 207

body itself is broken and champed, with hands
and teeth respectively ; which indeed was nothing
but a plain overacting the article, in contradiction
to Berengarius. And the answer of Bellarmine
is not sense, for he denies that the body itself is
broken in itself (that was the error we charged
upon the Roman synod), and the sign abstracting
from the body is not broken (for that was the
opinion that the council condemned in Berenga-
rius), but, says Bellarmine, the body in the sign :
What is that ? for neither the sign, nor the body,
nor both together are broken ; for if either of
them distinctly, they either rush upon the error
which the Roman synod condemned in Berenga-
rius, or upon that which they would fain excuse
in pope Nicholas. But if both are broken, then
it is true to affirm it of either ; and then the coun-
cil is blasphemous in saying, that Christ's glorified
body is passible and frangible by natural mandu-
cation ; so that it is and it is not ; it is not this
way, and yet it is no way else : but it is some
way, and they know not how ; and the council
spoke blasphemy, but it must be made innocent,
and therefore it was requisite a cloud of a distinc-
tion should be raised, that the unwary reader
might be amused, and the decree scape untouched,
but the truth is, they that undertake to justify all
that other men say, must be more subtle than
they that said it, and must use such distinctions
w^hich possibly the first authors did not under-
stand. But I will multiply no more instances ;
for what instance soever I shall bring, some or
other will be answering it; which thing is so far
from satisfying me in the particulars, that it
increases the difficulty in the general, and satisfies
me in my first belief: for, if no decrees of coun-

208 THE? SACRED CLASSICS.

oils can make against them,* though they seem
never so plain against them, then let others be
allowed the same liberty (and there is all the
reason in the world they should), and no decree
shall conclude against any doctrine, that they
have already entertained ; and by this means the
church is no fitter instrument to decree controver-
sies than the Scripture itself, there being as much
obscurity and disputing in the sense, and the
manner, and the degree, and the competency, and
the obligation of the decree of a council, as of a
place of Scripture. And what are we the nearer
for a decree, if any sophister shall think his illusion
enough to contest against the authority of a council.
Yet this they do that pretend highest for their au-
thority; which consideration, or some like it,
might possibly make Gratiant prefer St. Jerome's
single testimony before a whole council, because
he had Scripture of his side; which says, that
the authority of councils is not eturoTria-roc (de-
serving of credit and confidence on its own
account), and that councils may possibly recede
from their rule, from Scripture ; and, in that case,
a single person, proceeding according to rule, is a
better argument ; which indeed was the saying of
Panormitan : *' In matters of faith, the opinion of
a single individual is preferable to the dictate of
a pope, or of a whole council, if he be guided in
his decision by better arguments.''^

* nia demum eis videntur edicta et concilia quae in rem
Fuam faciunt ; reliqua non pluris scstimant quam conventum
muliercularum in textrina vel thermis. — Lud. Vives in Scho-
liis, lib. xic. Aug. de Civit. Dei. c. 26.

t 36. q. 2. c. placuit.

X " In concernentibus fidem etiam dictum unius privati
esset dicto papae aut totius concilii praeferendum, si ille move-
retur melioribus argumentis." — Part I. De Election, et Elect,
potest, cap. significasti.

THE LIBERTY OP PROPHESYING. 209

I end this discourse with representing the words
of Gregory Nazianzen, in his epistle to Procopius :
" To saj the truth, such is my feeling, that I would
shun all the episcopal councils, for I have never
known one of them come to any good and pros-
perous issue, or which did not tend rather to the
growth than the diminution of evils." *^ But I will
not be so severe and dogmatical against them : for
I believe many councils to have been called with
sufficient authority, to have been managed with
singular piety and prudence, and to have been
finished with admirable success and truth ; and
where we find such councils, he that will not, with
all veneration, believe their decrees, and receive
their sanctions, understands not that great auty lie
owes to them who have the care of our souls,
whose ' faith we are bound to follow,' saith St.
Fault; that is, so long as they follow Christ, and
certainly many councils have done so ; but this
was then, when the public interest of Christendom
was better conserved in determining a true article
than in finding a discreet temper, or a wise
expedient, to satisfy disagreeing persons (as the
fathers at Trent did, and the Lutherans and Cal-
vinists did at Sendomir, in Polonia ; and the
Sublapsarians and Supralapsarians did at Dort).
It was in ages when the sum of religion did not
consist in maintaining the dignity of the papacy ;
where there was no order of men, with a fourth
vow upon them, to advance St. Peter's chair ;

* " Ego si vera scribere oportet ita animo affectus sum, ut
omnia episcoporum concilia fugiam, quoniam nullius con-
cilii finem latum faustumque vidi, nee quod depulsionem
malorum potius quam accessionem et incrementum habuerit."
— Athanas. lib. I)e Synod. Frustra igitur circumcursitantes
prffitexunt ob fidem se Synodos postulare, cum sit Divina
Scriptura omnibus potcntior.

t Heb. xiii, 7.
18'

210 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

when there was no man, or any company of men,
that esteemed themselves infallible ; and, there-
fore, they searched for truth as if they meant to
find it, and would believe it if they could see it
proved ; not resolved to prove it, because they
had, upon chance or interest, believed it; then
they had rather have spoken a truth than upheld
their reputation, but only in order to truth.
This was done sometimes, and when it was done,
God's spirit never failed them, but gave them such
assistances as were sufficient to that good end for
which they were assembled, and did implore his
aid ; and therefore it is, that the four general
councils, so called by way of eminency, have
gained so great a reputation above all otliers ; not
because they had a better promise, or more special
assistances, but because they proceeded better,
according to the rule, with less faction, with-
out ambition and temporal ends.

And yet those very assemblies of bishops had no
authority, by their decrees, to make a divine
faith, or to constitute new objects of necessary
credence; they made nothing true that was not so
before ; and, therefore they are to be apprehended in
the nature of excellent guides, and whose decrees
are most certainly to determine all those who have
no argument to the contrary, of greater force and
efficacy than the authority or reasons of the
council. And there is a duty owing to every
parish priest, and to every diocesan bishop ; these
are appointed over us, and to answer for our souls,
and are, therefore, morally to guide us, as reason-
able creatures are to be guided ; that is, by reason
and discourse: for in things of judgment and
understanding, they are but in form next above
beasts, that are to be ruled by the imperiousness

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 211

and absoluteness of authority, unless the authority
be divine ; that is, infallible. Now, then, in a
juster height, but still in its true proportion,
assemblies of bishops are to guide us with a higher
authority ; because, in reason, it is supposed they
will do it better, with more argument and cer-
tainty, and with decrees, which have the advan-
tage, by being the results of many discourses of
very wise and good men ; but that the authority
of general councils was never esteemed absolute,
infallible, and unlimited, appears in this, that
before they were obliging, it was necessary that
each particular church, respectively, should accept
them: concurrente universali totius ecdesise con-
sensu, 8f'C. in declaratione veritatum quad credendx
sunt, <§*c.* That is the way of making the de-
crees of councils become authentic, and be turned
into a law, as Gerson observes; and till they did,
their decrees were but a dead letter (and there-
fore it is, that these later popes have so labored
that the council of Trent should be received in
France: and Carolus Molineus, a great lawyer,
and of the Roman communion, disputed against
the reception) ;t and this is a known condition in
the canon law ; but it proves plainly that the de-
crees of councils have their authority from the
voluntary submission of the particular churches,
not from the prime sanction and constitution of
the council. And there is great reason it should ;
for as the representative body of the church de-
rives all power from the diffusive body which is
represented, so it resolves into it ; and though it

* Vid. St. Auffust. lib. i. c. 18, de Bapt. Contr. Donat.

t So did the third estate of France, in the convention of
the three estates, under Lewis XIII, earnestly contend
against it.

212 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

may have all the legal power, yet it hath not all
the natural ; for more able men may be unsent than
sent ; and they who are sent may be wrought upon
by stratagem, which cannot happen to the whole
diffusive church : it is, therefore, most fit, that
since the legal power, that is, the external, was
passed over to the body representative, yet the
efficacy of it, and the internal, should so still re-
main in the diffusive, as to have power to considJEjyV
whether their representatives did their duty, yea/,
or no ; and so to proceed accordingly, for, unless itV^
be in matters of justice, in which the interest of a
third person is concerned, no man will or can be
supposed to pass away all power from himself, of
doing himself right in matters personal, proper,
and of so high concernment : it is most unnatural
and unreasonable. But, besides that they are
excellent instruments of peace, the best human
judicatories in the world, rare sermons for the
determining a point in controversy, and the
greatest probability from human authority; be-
sides these advantages, I say, I know nothing
greater that general councils can pretend to, with
reason and argument, sufficient to satisfy any wise
man : and as there was never any council so
general but it might have been more general ; for,
in respect of the whole church, even Nice itself
was but a small assembly ; so there is no decree
so well constituted but it may be proved by an
argument higher than the authority of the counci'.
And, therefore, general councils, and national, and
provinciall,»and diocesan, in their several decrees,
are excellent guides for the prophets, and direc-
tions and instructions for their prophesyings j but
not of v/eight and authority to restrain their liberty
so wholly but that they may dissent, when they

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 213

see a reason strong enough so to persuade them as
to be willing, upon the confidence of that reason,
and their own sincerity, to answer to God for
such their modesty, and peaceable, but (as they
believe) their necessary disagreeing.

214 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SECTION VIL

Of the fallibility of the Pope, and the uncertainty
of his expounding Scripture^ and resolving Ques-
tions.

But since the question between the council and
the pope grew high, thej have not wanted abettors
so confident on the pope's behalf, as to believe
general councils to be nothing but pomps and
solemnities of the catholic church, and that all the
authority of determining controversies is formally
and effectually in the pope ; and, therefore, to ap-
peal from the pope to a future council is a heresy ;
yea, and treason too, said pope Pius II;* and
therefore, it concerns us now to be wise and wary.
But before I proceed, I must needs remember, that
pope Pius II,t while he was the wise and learned
j^neas Sylvius, was very confident for the pie-
eminence of a council, and gave a merry reason
why more clerks were for the popes than the coun-
cil, though the truth was on the other side ; even
because the pope gives bishoprics and abbeys, but
councils give none ; and yet, as soon as he was
made pope, as if he had been ins^)ired, his eyes
Avere opened to see the great privileges of St. Peter's
chair, which before he could not see, being amused
with the truth, or else with the reputation of a ge-
neral council. But, however, there are many that

* Epist. ad Norimberg.

t " Patrum et avorum nostrorum tempore pauci audebant
dicere papain esse supra concil." — Lib. i. de Gestis Concil.
Basil.

THE LIBERTY OF TROPHESYIXG. 215

hope to make it good, that the pope Is the universal
and the infallible doctor, that he breathes decrees
as oracles, that to dissent from any of his cathedral
determinations, is absolute heresy, the rule of faith
being nothing else but conformity to the chair
of Peter. So that here we have met a restraint of
prophesy indeed ; but yet, to make amends, [ hope
we shall have an infallible guide ; and wl en a man
is in heaven, he will never complain that his choice
is taken from him, and he is confined to love and
to admire, since his love and his admiration is
fixed upon that which makes him happy, even
upon God himself. And in the church of Rome,
there is, in a lower degree, but in a true propor-
tion, as little cause to be troubled, that we are
confined to believe just so, and no choice left us
for our understandings to discover, or our wills to
choose ; because, though we be limited, yet we are
pointed out where we ought to rest; we arc con-
fined to our centre, and there where our under-
standings will be satisfied, and therefore will be
quiet, and where, after all our strivings, studies,
and endeavors, we desire to come ; that is, to truth,
for there we are secured to find it, because we have
a guide that is infallible : if this prove true, we are
well enough; but if it be false, or uncertain, it
were better we had still kept our liberty, than be
cozened out of it with gay pretences. This, then,
we must consider.

And here we shall be oppressed with a cloud of
witnesses : for what more plain than the commis-
sion given to Peter ? ' Thou are Peter, and upon
tins rock will I build my church;' and 'to thee
will I give the keys.' And again : ' For thee liave I
prayed, that thy faith fail not; but thou, when thou
art converted, confirm thy brethren/ And again:

216 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

* If thou lovest me, feed my sheep.' Now, nothing
of this being spoken to any of the other apostles,
by one of these places, St. Peter must needs be
appointed foundation, or head of the church ; and,
by consequence, he is to rule and govern all. By
some other of these places he is made the supreme
pastor, and he is to teach and determine all, and
enabled, with an infallible power so to do : and, in
a right understanding of these authorities, the fa-
thers spake great things of the chair of Peter ; for
we are as much bound to believe that all this was
spoken to Peter's successors, as to his person ; that
must, by all means, be supposed ; and so did the
old doctors, who had as much certainty of it as we
have, and no more ; but yet let us hear what they
have said : "To this church, by reason of its more
powerful principality, it is necessary all churches
round about should convene^."* " In this, tradition
apostolical always was observed ; and, therefore, to
communicate with this bishop, with this church,
was to be in communion with the church cathoiic."t
" To this church error or perfidiousness cannot
have access.''^ "Against this see gates of hell
cannot prevail ."§ "For we know this church to
be built upon a rock : and whoever eats the lamb,
not within this house, is profane ; he that is not
in the ark of Noah perishes in the inundation of
waters. He that gathers not with this bishop, he
scatters ; and he that belongeth not to Christ, must
needs belong to antichrist :"|1 and that is his final
sentence. But if you would have all this proved

* Irense. Contr. Haeres. lib. iii. c. 3.
t Ambr. de Obitu Salyri. et lib. i. Ep. iv. ad Imp. Cypr.
£p. Iii.

I Cypr. Ep. Iv. ad Cornel.

§ St. Austin, in Psal. contra part. Donat.

II Hieron. Ep. Ivii. ad Damasum.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 217

by an infallible argument, Optatus* of Milevis in
Africa, supplies it to us from the very name of Peter :
for therefore Christ gave him the cognomination
of Cephas, ctyro T/)? Kiipctx-^?, to show that St. Peter
was the visible head of the catholic church. A
cover this, truly worthy of the dish !t This long
harangue must needs be full of tragedy to all them
that take liberty to themselves to follow Scripture
and their best guides, if it happens, in that liberty,
that they depart from the persuasions or the com-
munion of Rome : but, indeed, if with the peace of
the bishops of Rome I may say it, this scene is the
most unhandsomely laid, and the worst carried of
any of those pretences that have lately abused
Christendom.

1. Against the allegations of Scripture, I shall
lay no greater prejudice than this, that if a person
disinterested should see them and consider %\iiat
the products of them might possibly be, the last
thing that he would think of would be, how that
any of these places should serve the ends or pre-
tences of the church of Rome. For, tt> instance
in one of the particulars that man had need have
a strong fancy, who im.agines, that because Christ
prayed for St. Peter (being he had designed him
to be one of those upon whose preaching and
doctrine he did mean to constitute a church),
* that his faith might not fail' (for it was neces-
sary that no bitterness, or stopping, should be in
one of the first springs, lest the current be either
spoiled or obstructed), that therefore the faith of
pope Alexander VI, or Gregory, or Clement,
fifteen hundred years after, should be preserved
by virtue of that prayer, which the form of words,

* Lib. ii. Contra Parmenian.
t " Dignum patella operculum ! "
19

218 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the time, the occasion, the manner of the address,
the effect itself, and all the circumstances of the
action and person, did determine to be personal ;
and when it was more than personal, St. Peter did
not represent his successors at Rdme^'but the
whole catholic church, says Aquinas,* and the
divines of the university of Paris. " Tliey ex-
plain the prayer as referring to the church al6ne,"t
says Bellarniine of them; and the gloss upon the
canon law plainly denies the effect of this prayer
at all to appertain to the pope ; " The question is,
respecting what church we are to understand it
said, that it is infallible ; is it of the pope himself,
who is called the church ? But it is certain that
the pope may err. — I answer, the congregation of
the faithful is here called the church ; and it
cannot be otherwise than such, for our Lord
himself prays for the church ; and will not be
disappointed of the request of his lips."| But
there is a little danger in this argument, v/hen we
well consider it; but it is likely to redound on
the head of those whose turns it should serve :
for it may be remembered, that for all this prayer
of Christ for St. Peter, the good man fell foully,
and denied his master shamefully ; and shall
Christ's prayer be of greater efficacy for his suc-
cessors, for whom it was made but indirectly and
by consequence, than himself, for whom it was

* 22. se. q. 2. a. 6. ar. 6. ad. 3. m.

t " Volunt enim pro sola ecclesia esse oratum." — Lib. iv
de Rom. Pont. c. 3,§.l.

t " Quaere de qua ecclesia intelligas quod hoc dicitur, quod
non possit errare, si de ipso papa qui ecclesia dicitur ? sed
certum est, quod papa errare potest. Respondeo ipsa con-
gregatio fidelium hic dicitur ecclesia ; et talis ecclesia non
potest non esse, nam ipse Dominus orat pro ecclesia, et vo-
luntate labiorum suorum non fraudabitur." — Cans, xxi.cap.
a recta, q. 1. xxix. Dist. Anastatius, 60, di. si Papa.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 219

directly and in the first intention ? And if
not, then, for all this argument, the popes may
deny Christ, as well as their chief and decessor,
Peter. But it should not be forgotten, how the
Roman doctors will by no means allow that
St. Peter was then the chief bishop or pope,
when he denied his master. But, then, much
less was he chosen chief bishop when the prayer
was made for him, because the prayer was made
before Ids fall ; that is, before that time in which
it is confessed he was not as yet made pope ;
and how, then, the whole succession of the
papacy should be entitled to it passes the length
of my hand to span. But, then, also, if it be
supposed and allowed, that these words shall
entail infallibility upon the chair of Rome, why
shall not also all tl\e apostolical sees be infallible,
as well as Romep why shall not Constantinople, or
Byzantium, where St. Andrew sat ? why shall not
Ephesus, where St. John sat ; or Jerusalem, where
St, James sat? for Christ prayed for them all,
'that the Father should sanctify them by his
truth.' John xvii.

2. For was it personal or not ? If it were, then
tlie bishops of Rome have nothing to do with it :
if it were not, then by whac argument -will it be
made evident that St, Peter, in the promise, re-
presented only his successors, and not the whole
college of apostles, and the whole hierarchy r For,
if St. Peter was chief of the apostles and head of
the church, he might, fair enough, be the repre-
-sentative of the whole college, and receive it in
their right as well as his own ; which also is
certain that it was so, for the same promise of
bindijig and loosing (which certainly was all that
the keys were given for), was made afterwards to

220 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

all the apostles, Matt, xviii ; and the power of
remitting and retaining, which, in reason and
according to the style of the church, is the same
thing in other words, was actually given to all the
apostles. And unless that was the performing
the first and second promise, we find it not re-
corded in Scripture how, or when, or whether yet
or no, the promise be performed : that promise, I
say, which did not pertain to Peter principally
and by origination, and to the rest by communica-
tion, society, and adherence; but that promise
which was made to Peter first, but not for himself,
but for all the college, and for all their successors,
and then made the second time to them all,
without representation, but in difi'usion, and per-
formed to all alike in presence, except St.
Thomas. And if he went to St. Peter to derive
it from him, I know not; I fiad no record for
that; but that Christ conveyed the promise to
him by the same commission, the church yet
never doubted, nor had she any reason. But this
matter is too notorious : I say no more to it, but
repeat the words and argument of St. Austin.*
" If the keys were only given and so promised to
St. Peter, that the church hath not the keys, then
the church can neither bind nor loose, remit nor
retain; which God forbid." If any man should
endeavor to answer this argument, I leave him
and St. Austin to contest it.

3. For * Feed my sheep,' there is little in that
allegation, besides the boldness of the objectors;
for were not all the apostles bound to feed Christ's
sheep? Had they not all the commission from
Christ, and Christ's Spirit immediately ? St. Paul

* ''Si hoc Petro tantum dictum est, non facit hoc ecclesia."
— Tra. 1. in Joann.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 221

had certainly. Did not St. Peter himself say to
all the bishops of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithinia, that they should feed the flock
of God, and the great Bishop and Shepherd should
give them an immarcescible crovrn; plainly imply-
ing, that from whence they derived their authority,
from him they were sure of a reward } In pursu-
ance of which, St. Cyprian laid his argument upon
this basis.* Did not St. Paul call to the bishops
^f Ephesus to feed the flock of God, of which the
Holy Ghost hath made them bishops or overseers ?
And that this very commission was spoken to
Peter not in a personal, but a public capacity, and
in him spoke to all the apostles, we see attested
by St. Austin and St. Ambrose,! and generally by
all antiquity; and it so concerned even every
priest, that Damasus was willing enough to have
St. Jerome explicate many questions for him.
And Liberius writes an epistle to Athanasius, with
much modesty requiring his advice in a question
of faith : " That I also may be persuaded witliout
all doubting, of those things wliich you shall be
pleased to command me.'*+ Now, Liberius needed
not to have troubled himself to have writ into the
east to Atlianasius ; for, if he liad but seated
himself in his chair, and made the dictate, the result
of his pen and ink would certainly have taught
him and all the church ; but that the good pope
was ignorant that either 'Feed my sheep' was
his own charter and prerogative, or that any
other words of Scripture had made him to be
infallible : or if he was not ignorant of it, he did

; * " Nam cum statutum sit omnibus nobis, &c, et singulis
pastoribus portio gregis, &c." — Lib. i. Ep. 3.
t De Agone Christi, c. 30.

X Ivtt nuryoi TTwroi^cei a> atSiAKpnoo;, Tripi m st^iot; Htkojiiv /usi. —
Epist. ad Athanas. apud Athanas. torn. i. page 42. Paris
19*

2i22 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

very ill to compliment himself out of it. So did
all those bishops of Rome that, in that trouble-
some and unprofitable question of Easter, being
unsatisfied in the supputation of the Egyptians,
and the definitions of the mathematical bishops of
Alexandria, did yet require and entreat St. Am-
brose* to tell them his opinion, as he himself
witnesses. If ' Feed my sheep' belongs only to
the pope by primary title, in these cases the sheep
came to feed the shepherd ; which, though it was
well enough in the thing, is very ill for the preten-
sions of the Roman bishops; and if we consider
how little many of the popes have done towards
feeding the sh ep of Christ, we shall hardly de-
termine which is tlie greater prevarication, that
the pope should claim the whole commission to
be granted to him, or that tlie execution of the
commission should be wholly passed over to others ;
and it may be, there is a mystery in it, that since
St. Peter sent a bishop with his staff to raise up a
disciple of his from the dead, who was afterwards
bishop of Triers, the popes of Rome never wear a
pastoral staft', except it be in that diocess (says
Aquinas),t for great reason, that he who does not
do the ofiice should not bear the symbol ; but a
man would think that the pope's master of cere-
monies was ill advised, not to assign a pastoral
staiF to him who pretends the commission of ' Feed
my sheep' to belong to him by prime right and
origination. But this is not a business to be meri^
in. i«

But the great support is expected from, *Thoii
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church,' &c. Now there being so great difference
in the exposition of these words, by persons dis-

♦ Lib. X. Ep. 83. f M. iv. Sent. Dist. 24.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 223

interested, who, if any, might be allowed to judge
in this question, it is certain that neither one sense
nor other can be obtruded for an article of faith ;
much less as a catholicon instead of all, by con-
stituting an authority which should guide us in all
faith, and determine us in all questions ; for if
the church was not built upon the person of Peter,
then his successors can challenge nothing from
this instance. Now, that it was the confession of
Peter upon which the church was to rely for ever,
we have witnesses very credible; St. Ignatius,*
St. Basil,t St. Hilary,! St. Greo;ory Nyssen,^ St.
Gregory the ^great,|l St. Austin*!, St. Cyril of
Alexandria,*" Isidore Pelusiot,1t and very many
more. And, although all these witnesses con-
curring cannot make a proposition to be true, yet
they are sufficient witnesses, that it was not the
universal belief of Christendom that the church
was built upon St. Peter's person. Cardinal
Perron hath a fine fancy to elude this variety of
exposition, and the consequents of it ; for (saitli he)
these expositions are not contrary or exclusive of
each other, but inclusive and consequent to each
other: for the church is founded casually upon
the confession of St. Peter, formerly upon the
ministry of his person ; and this was a I'tward
or consequent of the former. So that these expo-
sitions are both true, but they are conjoined as
mediate, and immediate, direct and collateral,
literal and moral, original and perpetual, accessory
and temporal ; the one consigned at the beginning,
the other introduced upon occasion : for before

* Ad Philadelph. t Seleuc. Orat. xxv.

X Lib. vi. De Trin. § De Trin. adv^ers. JudcEos.

II Lib. iii. Ed. 33. IT In 1 Eph. Joann. tr. 10.

** De Trin. lib. iv. ft Lib. i. Ep. 235.

224 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the spring of the Arian heresy, the fathers ex-
pounded these words of the person of Peter ; but
after the Arians troubled them, the fathers, finding
great authority and energy in this confession of
Peter, for the establishment of the natural filiation
of the Son of God, to advance the reputation of
these words and the force of the argument, gave
themselves licence to expound these words to the
present advantage, and to make the confession of
Peter to be the foundation of the church ; that, if
the Arians should encounter this authority, they
might, with more prejudice to their persons, de-
claim against their cause, by saying they over-
threw tlie foundation of the church. Besides that
this answer does much dishonor the reputation of
the fathers' integrity, and makes their interpreta-
tions less credible, as being made not of know-
ledge or reason, but of necessity and to serve a
present turn, it is also false ; for Ignatius* ex-
pounds it in a spiritual sense, which also the liturgy
attributed to St. James calls in Tnrftv t;)c 'Tritma,'.,
" upon the rock of the faith :" and Origen expounds
it mystically to a third purpose, bat exclusively
to this : and all these were before the Arian con-
troversy. But if it be lawful to make such
unproved observations, it would have been to
better purpose, and more reason, to have observed
it thus : the fathers, so long as the bishop of Rome
kept himself to the limits prescribed him by Christ,
and indulged to him by the constitution or con-
cession of the church, were unwary and apt to
expound this place of the person of Peter ; but
when the church began to enlarge her phylacteries,
by the favor of princes and the sunshine of a
prosperous fortune, and the pope, by the advan-
♦ Epist. ad Philadelph. in c. 16. Mat. Tract. 1.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 225

tags of the imperial seat, and other accidents,
began to invade upon the other bishops and pa-
triarchs, then, that he might have no color from
Scripture for such new pretentions, thej did, most
generally, turn the stream of their expositions
from the person to the confession of Peter, and
declared that to be the foundation of the church.
And thus I have requited fancy with fancy : but,
for the main point, that these two expositions are
inclusive of each other, I find no warrant ; for
though they may consist together well enough, if
Christ had so intended them, yet, unless it could
be shown by some circumstance of the text, or
some other extrinsical argument, that they must
be so, and that both senses were actually intended,
it is but gratis dictum, and a begging of the ques-
tion, to say that they are so ; and the fancy so new,
that when St. Austin had expounded this place of
the person of Peter, he reviews it again, and, in
his retractations, leaves every man to his liberty
whicli to take ; as having nothing certain in this
article : which had been altogether needless, if he
had believed them to be inclusively in each other,
neither of them had need to have been retracted ;
both were alike true, both of them might have been
believed. But I said the fancy was new, and I
had reason ; for it was so unknown till yesterday,
that even the late writers, of his own side, ex-
pound the words of the confession of St. Peter,
exclusively to his person, or any thing else, as is
to be seen in Marsilius/^ Petnis de Aliaco,^ and
the gloss upon Dist. xix. Can. ita Dominus,§ ut
supra, vvhich also was the interpretation of Phavo-
rinus Gamers, their own bishop, from whom they
learnt the resemblance of the word Uirrpos (Peter),
• Deiens. Pads, part. ii. c. 28. t Recommend. Sacr. Scrip.

2^ THE SACRED CLASSICS.

and Tftn-pdL, (a rock), of which they made so many
gay discourses.

5. But, upon condition I may have leave, at
another time, to recede from so great and numerous
testimony of fathers, I am willing to believe that it
was not the confession of St. Peter, but his person
upon which Christ said he would build his church;
or that these expositions are consistent with and
consequent to each other ; that this confession was
the objective foundation of faith, and Christ and
his apostles the subjective — Christ principally,
and St. Peter instrumentally ; and yet I understand
not any advantage will hence accrue to the see of,
Rome; for upon St. Peter it was built, but not
alone, for it " was upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being
the chief corner-stone ;" and when St. Paul reck-
oned the economy of hierarchy, he reckons not
Peter first and then the apostles, but first apostles,
secondarily prophets, &c. And whatsoever is first,
either is before all things else, or at least nothing
is before it : so that at least, St. Peter is not before
all the rest of the apostles ; which also St. Paul
expressly avers : ' I am in nothing inferior to the
very chiefest of the apostles ;' no, not in the very
being a rock and a foundation ; and it was of the
church of Ephesus that St. Paul said, in particular,
it was * the pillar and ground (or foundation) of
the truth ;' that church was, not excluding others,
for they also were as much as she : for so we keep
close and be united to the corner-stone, althougli
some be master builders, yet all may build ; and we
have known whole nations converted by laymen
and women who have been builders so far as to
bring them to the corner-stone.*

* Vid. Socrat. lib. i. c. 19, 20. Sozom. hb. ii. c. 14-
Niceph. lib. xiv. c. 42.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 227

6. But suppose all these things concern St. Peter,
in all the capacities that can be with any color
pretended, yet what have the bishops of Rome to
do with this ? For how will it appear that these
promises and commissions did relate to him as
a particular bishop, and not as a public apostle ?
since this latter is so much the more likel}', because
the great pretence of all seems in reason more
proportionable to the founding of a church than its
continuance: and, yet if they did relate to him as
a particular bishop (which yet is a further degree
of improbability, removed further from certainty),
yet why shall St. Clement, or Linus, rather succeed
in this great office of headship than St. John, or
any of the apostles that survived Peter ? It is no way
likely a private person should skip over the head
of an apostle. Or why shall his successors at
Rome more enjoy the benefit of it than his suc-
cessors at Antioch, since that he was at Antioch
and preached there, we have a divine authority;
but that he did so at Rome at most we have but a
human. And if it be replied, that because he died
at Rome, it was argument enough that there his
successors were to inherit his privilege, this, besides
tliat at most it is but one little degree of probability,
aod so not of strength sufficient to support an
article of faith, it makes that the great divine right
of Rome, and the apostolical presidency was so
contingent and fallible as to depend upon the
decree of Nero ; and if he had sent him to Antioch,
there to have suffered martyrdom, the bishops of
that town had been heads of the catholic church.
And this thing presses the harder, because it
is held by no mean persons in the church of
Rome, that the bishopric of Rome and the papacy
are things separable ; and the pope may quit that

228 ' THE SACRED CLASSICS.

see and sit in another : which, to my under-
standing, is an argument, that he that succeeded
Peter at Antioch, is as much supreme by divine
right, as he that sits at Rome ;* both alike ; that is
neither by divine ordinance : for if the Roman
bishops, by Christ's intention, were to be head of
the church, then, by the same intention, the suc-
cession must be continued in that see; and then,
let the pope go whither he will, the bishop of
Rome must be the head ; which they themselves
deny, and the pope himself did not believe, when
in a schism he sat at Avignon ; and that it was
to be continued in the see of Rome, it is but
offered to us upon conjecture, upon an act of
providence, as they fancy it so ordering it by
vision, and this proved by an author which them-
selves call fabulous and apochryphal.t A goodly
building which relies upon an event that was
accidental, whose purpose v/as but insinuated,
the meaning of it but conjectured at, and this
conjecture so uncertain, that it was an imperfect
aim at the purpose of an event, which, whether it
was true or no, was so uncertain that it is ten to
one there was no such matter. And yet, again,
another degree of uncertainty is, to whom the
bishops of Rome do succeed ; for St. Paul was
as much bishop of Rome as St. Peter was : there
he presided, there he preached, and he it was that
was the doctor of the uncircumcision and of the
gentiles ; St. Peter, of the circumcision and of
the Jews only ; and, therefore, the converted Jews
at Rome might, with better reason, claim tlie privi-
lege of St. Peter, than the Romans and the churches

* Vid. Cameracens. Qu. vespert.

t Under the name of Linus in Bibliotli. P. P. de Passiaoe,
Petri etPauli.

TH2 LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING* 229

in her Gommunion, who do not derive from Jewish
parents*

7. If the words were never so appropriate to
Peter^or also communicated to his successors, yet
of what value v;ill the consequent be ? what pre-
rogative is entailed upon the chair of Rome?
For that St. Peter was the ministerial head of the
church is the most that is desired to be proved bj
those and all other words brought for the same
purposes and interests of that see. Now let the
ministerial head have Avbat di":nitv can beimadned.
let him be the first (and in all communities that
are regu-lar and orderly, there must be something
that is first, upon certain occasions where an
equal power cannot be exercised, and made pomp-
ous or ceremonial) ; but will this ministerial head-
ship infer sii infallibility P will it infer more than tlie-
headship of the Jewish synagogue, where clearly
the high priest M^as supreme in many senses, yet
in no sense infallible } will it infer more to us
than it did amongst the apostles ? amongst whom,
if for order's sake St. Peter was the first, yet he
had no compulsory power over the apostles ; there-
was no such thing spoke of, nor any such thing put
in practice. And, that the other apostles were,
by a personal privilege, as infallible as himself,
is DO reason to hinder the exercise of jurisdiction,
or any compulsory power over them : for, though
in faith they were infallible, yet in manners and'
luatter of fact as likely to err as St. Peter himself
was;, and certainly there might have something
happened in the whole college that might have-
been a record of his authority, by transmitting an
example of the exercise of some judicial power
over some one of them : — if he had but withstood
any ©f thenv to their faces, as St. Paul did him, it
20

230 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

had been more than yet is said in his behalf. Will
the ministerial headship infer any more tlian, when
the church, in a community or a public capacity,
should do any act of ministry ecclesiastical, he
shall be first in order ? Suppose this to be a
dignity to preside in councils, which yet was not
always granted him ; suppose it to be a power of
takingcognizance of the major causes of bishops,
when councils cannot be called ; suppose it a double
voice, or the last decisive, or the negative in the
causes exterior; suppose it to be what you will of
dignity or external regimen, which, when all
churches were united in communion, and neither
the interest of states, nor the engagement of
opinions had made disunion, might better have
been acted than now it can ; yet this will fall in-
finitely short of a power to determine controversies
infallibly, and to prescribe to all men's faith and
consciences. A ministerial headship, or the prime
minister, cannot, in any capacity, become the
foundation of tiie church to any such purpose.
Arid, therefore, men are causelessly amused with
.such premises, and are afraid of such conclusions
which will never follow from the admission of any
sense of these words that can with any probability
be pretended.

8. I consider that these arguments from Scrip-
ture are too weak to support such an authority,
which pretends to give oracles, and to answer
infallibly in questions of faith ; because there is
greater reason to believe the popes of Rome have
erred, and greater certainty of demonstration,
than these places can be that they are infallible,
as will appear by the instances and perpetual
experiment of their being deceived, of which
there is no question, but of ihe sense of these

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 231

places there is; and, indeed if I had as clear
Scripture for their infallibility as I have against
their half-communion, against their service in an
unknown tongue, worshiping of images, and
divers other articles, I would make no scruple
of believing, but limit and conform my under-
standing; to all their dictates, and believe it
reasonable all prophesying should be restrained.
But till then I have leave to discourse, and to use
my reason; and, to my reason, it seems not
likely that neither Christ nor any of his apostles,
St. Peter himself, nor St. Paul, writing to the
church of Rome, should speak the least word, or
tittle of the infallibility of their bishops ; for it
was certainly as convenient to tell us of a remedy,
as to foretell, that certainly there must needs be
heresies, and need of a remedy. And it had
been a certain determination of the question, if
when so rare an opportunity was ministered in the
question about circumcision, that they should
have sent to Peter, who, for his infallibility in
ordinary and his power of headship, would, not
only with reason enough,as being infallibly assisted,
but also for his authority, have best determined
the question, if at least the first Christians had
known so profitable and so excellent a secret;
and, although we have but little record that the
first council at Jerusalem did much observe the
solemnities of law, and the forms of conciliary
proceedings, and the ceremonials, yet so much of
it as is recorded, is against them ; St. James, and
not St. Peter, gave the final sentence ; and al-
though St. Peter determined the question in favor
of liberty, yet St. James made the decree and the
assumentum too, and gave sentence they should
abstain from some things there mentioned, which

£32 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

by way of temper he judged most expedient, and
so it passed. And St. Peter showed no sign of a
superior authority, nothing of superior jurisdic-
tion, " but entreated him, that every thing might
be determined by a public decision, and nothing
by any person's mere authority and command."*

So that if this question be to be determined by
Scripture, it must cither be ended by plain places,
or by obscure ; plain places there are none, and
those that are with greatest fancy pretended, are
expounded by antiquity to contrary purposes.
But if obscure places be all the nu^iv^nn. (authority),
by what means shall we infaSlibly find the sense
of them? The pope's interpretation, though in
all other cases it might be pretended, in this
cannot; for it is the thing in question, and there-
fore cannot determine for itself: either therefore,
we have also another infallible guide besides the
pope, and so we have two foundations and two
heads (for this, as well as the other, upon the
same reason) : or else (which is indeed the truth)
there is no infallible way to be infallibly assured
that the pope is infallible. Now, it being against
tlie common condition of men, above the pretences
of all other governors ecclesiastical, against the
analogy of Scripture, and the deportment of the
other apostles, against the economy of the church,
and St, Peter's own entertainment, the presump-
tion lies against him ; and these places are to be
left to their prime intentions, and not put upon
the rack to force them to -confess what they never
tliought.

But now, for antiquity, if that be deposed in
Ihis question, there are so many circumstances to

* *0/)* J« auTOV jWiTst ;to;v«f ^avT«t Traio-wra. yvatiy.i^Cy ovS^i cvj-
d-ivTuu; ov^Apx'x-a)!- — S. Chrysost. Horn. iii. in Act. Apost.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. ^3S

be considered, to, reconcile their words and their
actions, that the process is more troublesome than
the argument can be concluding, or the matter
considerable: but I shall a little consider it, so
far, at least, as to show either that antiquity said
no such thing as is pretended, or if thej did, it is
but little considerable, because they did not
believe themselves ; their practice was the greatest
evidence in the world against the pretence of
their words. But I am much eased of a long
disquisition in this particular (for I love not to
prove a question by arguments whose authority is
in itself as fallible, and by circumstances made as
uncertain as the question), by the saying of
^neas Sylvius, tliat before the Nicene council
every man lived to himself, and small respect was
had to the church of Rome ; which practice
could not well consist with the doctrine of their
bishops infallibility, and, by consequence, supreme
judgment and last resolution, in matters of faith,
but especially by the insinuation, and consequent
acknowledgment, of Bellarmine,* that for one
thousand years together, the fathers knew not of
the doctrine of the pope's infallibility ; for Nilus,
Gerson, Almain, the divines of Paris, Alphonsus
de Castro, and pope Ad rain VI, persons who
lived fourteen hundred years after Christ, affirm
that infallibility is not seated in the pope's person,
that he may err, and sometimes actually hath;
which is a clear demonstration that the church
knew no such doctrine as this ; there had been no
decree, nor tradition, nor general opinion of the
fathers, or of any age before them ; and therefore
this opinion, which Bellarmine would fain blast

* De Rom. Pont. lib. iv. c. 2, § Secunda Sententia.
20*

234 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

if he could, yet in this conclusion he says, it is
not properly heretical. A device and an expres-
sion of his own, without sense or precedent. But
if the fathers had spoken of it and believed it,
why may not a disagreeing person as well reject
their authority when it is in behalf of Rome, as
they of Rome, without scruple, cast them off when
they speak against it ? as Bellarmine, being pressed
with the authority of Nilus, bishop of Thessa-
lonica, and other fathers, says, that the pope
acknowledges no fathers, but they are all his
children, and, therefore, they cannot depose against
him ; and if that be true, why shall we take their
testimonies for him ? for if sons depose in their
father's behalf, it is twenty to one but the adverse
party" will be cast ; and therefore, at the best, it
is but suspicious evidence. Eut, indeed, this
discourse si(:;nifies nothing but a perpetual uncer-
tainty in such topics, and that where a violent
prejudice, or a concerning interest is engaged,
men, by not regarding what any man says, pro-
claim to all the world, that nothing is certain but
Divine authority.

But I will not take advantage of what Bellar-
mine says, nor what Stapleton, or any one of them
all say ; for that will be but to press upon personal
persuasions, or to urge a general question with a
particular defailancc, and the question is never
the neaier to an end ; for if Bellarmine says any
thing tiiat is not to another man's purpose or
persuasion, that man will be tried by his own
argument, not by another's. And so would every
man do that loves his liberty, as all v/ise men do,
and therefore retain it by open violence, or private
evasions : but to return.

An authority from Irenaeus in this question,

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 235

and on behalf of the pope's infallibility, or the au-
thority of the see of Rome, or of the necessity of
communicating v/ith them, is very fallible; for,
besides that there are almost a dozen answers to
the words of the allegation, as is to be seen in those
that trouble themselves in this question with the
allegation, and answering siich authorities, yet, if
tliey should make for the affirmative of this ques-
tion, it is an affirmation contrary to fact.- For
Irengeus had no such great opinion of pope Victor's
infallibility, that he believed things in the same
degree of necessity tliat the pope did ; for there-
fore he chides him for excommunicating the Asian
bishops et3-p:a>c, all at a blow, in the question con-
cerning Easter day ; and in a question of faith, he
expressly disagreed from the doctrine of Ron^e. for
Irenseus wl?. of the millenary opinion, and be-
lieved it to be a tradition apostolical : now, if the
church of Rome v.'as of that opinion, t'len why is
she not now ? where is the succession of her doc-
trine ? But if she was not of that opinion then,
and Irenasus was, where was his belief of that
church's infallibility? The same I urne concern-
ing St. Cyprian, who was the head of a sect in
opposition to the church of Rome, in the question
of rebaptization ; and he and the abettors. Fir-
milian, and the other bishops of Cappadocia, and
the vicinage, spoke harsh words of Stephen, and
such as became them not to speak to an infallible
doctor, and the supreme head of the church. I
will urge none of them to the disadvantage of that
see, but only note the satires of Firmilian against
him, because it is of good use to show that it is
possible for them in their ill carriage, to blast the
reputation and efficacy of a great authority : for he

* Protestatio contra factum.

S36 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

says that the church did pretend the authority of
the apostles, " when, in many of its religious
ordinances, it departed from the apostolic rule,
and from the practice of the church of Jerusalem,
and even defamed Peter and Paul as authorities."*
And a little after, says he, "I disdain the open
and manifest folly of Stephanus, by which the
verity of the Christian rock is annulled."'!' Which
words say plainly, that for all the goodly pretence
of apostolical authority, the church of Rome did
then, in many things of religion, disagree from
divine institution (and from the church of Jeru-
salem, which they had as great esteem of, for
religion sake, as of Rome for its principality) ; and
that still, in pretending to St. Peter and St. Paul,
they dishonored those blessed apostles, and de-
stroyed the honor of the pretence, by their untoward
prevarication ; which words, I confess, pass my
8kil I to reconcile them to an opinion of infallibility ;
and although they were spoken by an angry per-
son, yet they declare, that in Africa they were not
then persuaded as now they were at Rome : '' For
Peter, who was chosen by the Lord, did not vainly
and proudly arrogate to himself a claim to pre-emi-
nence."! That was their belief then, and how the
contrary hath grown up to that height where now
it is, all the world is witness. And now I shall
not need to note concerning St. Jerome, that he

* " Cum in multis sacramentis divinae rei, a principio djs-
crepet, et ab ecclesia Hierosolymitana, et dafamel Petrum et
Paulnm tanqn«m autiiores." — Epist. Finniliaiu, contr. Steph.
ad Cyprian. Vid. etiam Ep. Cypriani ad Pompeium.

t "Juste dedignor apertam et manifostam stultitiam Ste-
phani, per quam Veritas Christiana petrae aboletur."

X " Nam nee Petrus, quern primum Dominus elegit, vendi-
cavit sibi aliquid insolenter, aut arroganter assumpsit, ut
diceret se primatum tenere." — Cyprian. Epist. ad Quintum
Fratrem.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYlxVG. 2,37

gave a compliment to Damasus that he would not
have given to Liberius : Qui tecum non colligit
spargit ; " He who gathereth not with jou scat-
tereth." For it might be true enough of Damasus,
who was a good bishop, and a right believer; but
if Liberius's name had been put instead of Da-
masus, the case had been altered with the name ;
for St. Jerome did believe, and write it so, that
Liberius had subscribed to Arianism.* And if
either he, or any of the rest, had believed the pope
could not be a heretic, nor his faith fail, but be so
good and of so competent authority as to be a rule
to Christendom, why did they not appeal to the
pope in the Arian controversy? Why was the
bishop of Rome made a party and a concurrent, as
other good bishops were, and not a judge and an
arbitrator in the question ? Why did the fathers
prescribe so many rules, and cautions, and provisos,
for the discovery of heresy? Why were the
emperors at so much charge, and iih^ church at so
much trouble, as to call and convene in councils
respectively, to dispute so frequently, to write so
sedulously, to observe all advantages against their
adversaries, and for the truth, and never offered to
call for the pope to determine the question in his
chair? Certainly no way could have been so ex-
pedite, none so concluding and peremptory, none
could have convinced so certainly, none could have
triumphed so openly over all discrepants as this,.
if tliey had known of any such thing as his being
infallible, or tliat he had been appointed by Christ
to be the judge of controversies. And, therefore,
I will not trouble this discourse, to excuse any
more words, either pretended or really said to this^
purpose of the pope ; for they would but make

* De Script. Eccles. in Fortunatiano.

238 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

books swell, and the question endless. I shall
only to this purpose observe, that the old writers
were so far from believing the infallibility of the
Roman church or bishop, that many bishops, and
many churches, did actually live and continue out
of ihe Roman communion ; particularly St. Aus-
tin,* who, with two hundred and seventeen bishops,
and their successors, for one hundred years together,
stood separate from that church, if we may believe
their own records : so did Ignatius of Constanti-
nople, St. Chrysostom, St. Cyprian, Firmilian,
tliose bishops of Asia that separated in the question
of Easter, and those of Africa in the question of
rebaptization : but, besides this, most of them had
opinions which the church of Rome disavows now,
and, therefore, did so then, or else she hath inno-
vated in her doctrine ; which, though it be most
true and notorious, I am sure she will never
confess. But no excuse can be made for St.
Austin's disagreeing, and contesting, in the ques-
tion of appeals to Rome, the necessity of commu-
nicating infants, the absolute damnation of infants
to the pains of hell, if they die before baptism, and
divers other particulars. It was a famous act of
the bishops of Liguria and Istria, who, seeing the
pope of Rome consenting to the fifth synod, in
disparagement of the famous council of Chalcedon,
which for their own interests, they did not like of,
they renounced subjection to his patriarchate,
and erected a patriarch at Acquileia, who was

* " Ubi ilia Augustini et reliquorum prudentia ? quis jam
ferat crassissimse ignorantiae illam vocem in tot et tantis
Patribus ?" — Alan. Cop. Dialog, p. 76, 77. Vide etiam
Bonifac. II. Epist. ad Eulalium Alexandrinum. Lindanum
Panopl. lib. iv. c. 89. in fine Salmeron. torn. xii. Tract. 68,
<5i ad Catiomen. Ssmder. de visibili Monarchia, lib. vii. n. 411.
Baron, torn. x. A. d. 878.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 239

afterwards translated to Venice, where his name
remains to this day. It is also notorious, that
most of the fathers were of opinion that the souls
of the faithful did not enjoy the beatific vision
before doomsday : whether Rome was then of that
opinion or no, I know not ; I am sure now they
are not; witness the councils of Florence and
Trent; but of this I shall give a more full account
afterwards. But if to all this which is already
noted, we add that great variety of opinions
amongst the fathers and councils, in assignation
of the canon, they not consulting with the bishop
of Rome, or anv of them thinkin"; themselves
bound to foUov/ his rule in enumeration of the
books of Scripture, I think no more need to be said
as to this particular.

8. But now, if after all this, there be some popes
w^hich were notorious heretics, and preachers of
false doctrine, some that made impious decrees,
both in faith and manners ; some that have
determined questions with egregious ignorance
and stupidity, some witli apparent sophistry, and
many to serve their own ends most openly ; I sup-
pose then the infallibility will disband, and we
may do to him as to other good bishops, believe
him when there is cause ; but if there be none,
then to use our consciences. *• For it cannot be
sufficient for a christian, that the pope constantly
affirms the propriety of his own command ; he
must examine for himself, and form his opinion by
the Divine law."* I would not instance and
repeat the errors of dead bishops, if the extreme
boldness of the pretence did not make it necessary :

* " Non enim salvSt Christianum quod pontifex constanter
affirmat praeceptum suum esse justum, sed oportet illud ex-
aminari, et se juxta regulam superius datam dirigere."—
Tract, de Interdict. Compos, a Theol. Venet. prop. 13.

240 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

but if we may believe Tertullian,* pope Zephe-
rinus approved the prophesies of Montanus, and
upon that approbation granted peace to the churches
of Asia and Phrygia, till Praxeas persuaded him
to revoke his act : but let this rest upon the credit
of Tertullian, whether Zepherinus were a Monta
nist or no ; some such thing there was for certain.!
Pope Vigiliusi denied two natures in Christ: and
in his epistle to Theodora, the empress, anathe-
matized all them that said he had two natures in
one person : St. Gregory himself permitted priests
to give confirmation ; which is all one as if he
should permit deacons to consecrate, they being,
by divine ordinance, annexed to the higher orders ;
and, upon this very ground, Adrianus affirms, that
the pope may err in his definition of the articles
H)f faith.§ And that we may not fear we shall
want instances, we may, to secure it, take their
own confession : '* For there are many heretical
•decretals," says Occham, as he is cited by Almain,
^* which," says he, for his own particular, " I
'firmly believe ; but we must not affirm contrary to
what is decreed."I| So that wc may as well see
that it is certain that popes may be heretics, as
that it is dangerous to say so ; and therefore there
^are so few that teach it. All the patriarchs, and
the bishop ofRome himself, subscribed toArianism
(as Baronius confesses^); and Gratian affirms that
pope Anastasius II, was stricken of God for com-

* Lib. adver. Praxeam.

t "Vid. Liberal, in Breviaiio, c. 22.

X Durand. iv. dist. 7. q. 4.

§ Quae, de Confirm, art. ult.

II "Nam multoE sunt decretales hsreticse, et firmiter hoc
credo ; sed non licet dogmatizare oppositum, quoniam sunt
determinatae." — 3 Dist. 24. q. unica.

HA. D. 357.n. 41.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 241

municating with the heretic PhotirTus.* I know it
will be made light of, that Gregory the VII saith,
,the very exorcists of the Roman church are superior
to princes. But what shall we think of that de-
cretal of Gregory III, who wrote to Boniface, his
legate in Germany, " That they whose wives
refused them conjugal rights, on account of some
bodily infirmity, might marry others ?t" Was this
a doctrine fit for the head of a church, and infallible
doctor ? It was plainly, if any thing ever was,
'•the doctrine of devils,*' and is noted forswch by
Gratian, caus. xxxii. y. 7. can. Qiiod proposidsti ;
where the gloss also intimates, that the same
privilege was granted to the Englishmen by Gre-
gory, "on the ground of their being but newly
converted." And sometimes we had little reason
to expect much better ; for, not to instance in that
learned discourse in the canon law, demajoritate
et Gbedieniia,X where tiie pope's sui)remacy over
kings is proved from the first chapter of Genesis ;
and the pope is the sun, and the emperor is thie
moon, for that -was the fancy of one pope perhaps,
though made authentic and doctrinal by him ; it
was (if it be possible) more ridiculous, that pope
Innocent III urges, that the Mosaical law was
still to be observed, and that upon this argument
saith he, *' That by the very word Deuteronomy,
or second law, it is shown, that what is there de-
termined ought to be observed in the New Testa-
ment."§ Worse yet ; for when there was a

* Dist. xix. c. 9. lib. iv. Ep. 2.

t " Quod illi quorum uxores infirmitate aliqua raorbidae
debitum reddere noluerunt, aliis poterant nubere?" — Vid.
Coiranz. Sura. Concil. fol. 218. Edit. Antwerp.

X Cap. per venerabilem — qui iilii sint le2:i!imi-

§ " Sane cum Deuteronomium secunda lex interpretetur,
ex vi vocabuli comprobatur, ut quod ibi decernitur in Testa-
niento Novo debeat ohservari."
2t

242 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

corruption crept into the decree, called Sancta
Romana^, where instead of these words, Sedidii
opus heroicis versibus descriptimi, " The work of
Sedulius, written in heroic verses ;" all the old
copies, till of late, read hsereticis versibus de-
scriptum, '* written in heretical verses ;" this very
mistake made many wise men (as Pierius says±),
yea, pope Adrian VI, no worse man, believe that
all poetry was heretical, because (forsooth) pope
Gelasius, whose decree that was, although he
believed Sedulius to be a good catholic, yet, as
they thought, he concluded his verses to be here-
tical. But these were ignorances; it hath been
worse amongst some others, whose errors have
been more malicious. Pope Honorius was con-
demned by the sixth general synod, and his epis-
tles burnt; and in the seventli action of the eighth
synod, the acts of the Roman council under Adrian
II are recited, in which it is said, that Honorius
was justly anathematised, because he wa,s convict
of heresy. Bellarmine says, it is probable that
pope Adrian and the Roman council were deceived
with false copies of the sixth synod, and that
Honorius v/as no heretic. To this I say, that
although the Roman synod, and the eighth general
synod, and pope Adrian, altogether, are better
witnesses for the thing than Bellarmine's con-
jecture is against it, yet, if we allow his con-
jecture, we shall lose nothing in the whole; for
either the pope is no infallible doctor, but may be
a heretic, as Honorius was ; or else a council is to
us no infallible determiner; I say, as to us, for if
Adrian, and the whole Roman council, and the
eighth general, were all cozened with false copies

* Dist. XV, apud Gratian. f De Stecerd. barb. .

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 243

of the sixth synod, which was so little a while
before them, and whose acts were transacted and
kept in the theatre and records of the catholic
church, he is a bold man that will be confident
that he hath true copies now. So that let which
they please stand or fall, let the pope be a heretic,
or the councils be deceived and palpably abused,
(for the other, we will dispute it upon other
instances and arguments, when we shall know
which part they will choose), in the mean time,
we shall get in the general what we lose in the
particular. This only, this device of saying the
copies of the councils were false, was the strata-
gem of Albertus Pighius,* nine hundred years
after the thing was done ; of which invention,
Pighius was presently admonished, blamed, and
wished to recant. Pope Nicholas explicated the
mystery of the sacrament with so much ignorance
and zeal, that, in condemning Berengarius, he
taught a worse impiety. But v/hat need I any
more instances ? It is a confessed case by Baro-
nius, by Biel, by Stella, Almain, Occham, and
Canus, and generally by the best scholars in the
church of Romet, that a pope may be a heretic,
and that some of them actually were so ; and no
less than three general councils did believe the
same thincr, viz., the sixth, seventh, and eighth, as
Bellarmine is pleased to acknowledge^; and the
canon si Papa, (list. 40, affirms it in express
terms, that a pope is judicable and punishable in
that case. But there is no w^ound but some
empiric or other will pretend to cure it ; and there

* Vid. Diatrib. de act. vi. et vii. Synod. Prtefatione ad
Lectorem et Dominicuin Bannes, xxii. q. 1. a. 10. dub. 2.

t Picus Mirand. in Exposit. theorem. 4.

* De Pontifice Romano, lib. iv. c. 11. Resp. ad Arg. 4.

244 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

is a cure for this too. For, though it be true that
if a pope were a heretic, the church might depose
him ; yet no pope can be a heretic, — not but that
the man may, but the pope cannot, for he is ipso
facto no pope, for he is no christian ; so Bellar-
mine :* and so when you think you have him fast,
he is gone, and nothing of the pope left. But,
who sees not the extreme folly of this evasion : for,
besides that out of fear and caution he grants more
than he needs, more than was sought for in the
question, the pope hath no more privilege than the
abbot of Cluny ; for he cannot be a heretic, nor be
deposed by a council ; for, if he be manifestly a
heretic, he is ipso facto no abbot, for he is no
christian ; and, if the pope be a heretic privately
and occultly, for that he may be accused and
judged, said the gloss upon the canon si Papa,
dist. 40. And the abbot of Cluny and one of his
meanest monks can be no more, therefore the
case is all one. But this is fitter to make sport
with than to interrupt a serious discourse.! And,
therefore, although the canon Sancta Romana ap-
proves all the decretals of popes, yet that very
decretal hath not decreed it firm enough, but that
they are so warily received by them, that when
they list they are pleased to dissent from them ;
and it is evident, in the extravagant of Sixtus IV.
Com. de Reliquiis;\ who appointed a feast of the
immaculate conception, a special office for the
day, and indulgences enough to the observers of
it; and yet the Dominicans were so far from
believing the pope to be infallible and his decree

* Lib. ii. c. 30, ubi supra, § est ergo.

t Vide Alphons. a Castr. lib. i. adv. Hagres. c. 4. ^

X Vid. etiam Innocentium, Serm. 2. de Consecrat. Pontif.

act. vii. viii. Synodi. et Concil. S.subSymmadio. Collat. viii.

can. 12.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 245

authentic, that they declaimed against it in their
pulpits so furiously and so long, till they were
prohibited, under pain of excommunication, to say
the Virgin Mary was conceived in original sin.
Now, what solemnity can be more required for
the pope to make a cathedral determination of an
article ? The article was so concluded, that a
feast was instituted for its celebration, and pain
of excommunication threatened to them which
should preach the contrary. Nothing more solemn,
nothing more confident and severe : and yet, after
all this, to show that whatsoever those people
would have us to believe, they will believe what
they list themselves ; this thing was not deter-
mined defide, saith Victorellus. Nay, the author
of the gloss of the canon law hath these express
words : " With regard to the feast of the con-
ception, nothing is said, because it is not kept, as
it is in many places, and especially in England;
and the reason is, that the Virgin was conceived
in sin, as were the other saints."* And the com-
missaries of Sixtus V, and Gregory XIII, did not
expunge these words, but left them upon record,
not only against a received and more approved
opinion of the Jesuits and Franciscans, but also in
plain defiance of a decree made by their visible
head of the church, who (if ever any thing was
decreed by a pope with an intent to oblige all
Christendom) decreed this to that purpose.t
So that without taking particular notice of it,

* " De festo Conceptionis nihil dicitur, quia celebrandura
non est, sicut in multis regionibus sit, ex maxime in Anglia;
et base est ratio, quia in peccatis concepta fuit sicut et caeteri
Sancti."— De Angelo custod. fol. 59. de Consecrat. dist. .3,
can. pronunci and gloss, verb. Nativit.

t " Hac in perpetuum valitura constitutione statuimus,"
&c.— De Reliqulis, &c. Extrav. Com. Sixt. IV. c. 1.
2X*

246

THE SACRED CLASSICS.

that egregious sophistry and flattery of the late
writers of the Roman church is in this instance,
besides divers others before mentioned, clearly
made invalid. For, here the bishop of Rome, not
as a private doctor, but as pope, not by declaring
his own opinion, but with an intent to oblige
the church, gave sentence in a question which the
Dominicans still account undetermined. And
every decretal recorded in the canon law, if it be
fiilse in the matter, is just such another instance.
And Alphonsus a Castro says it to the same
purpose, in the instance of Celestine dissolving
marriages for heresy : " Neither ouglit this error of
Celestine to be imputed to negligence alone, so
that we may say he erred as a private individual,
and not as a pope; because such a decision as
this of his is found in the ancient decretals, in the
chapter concerning the conversion of infidels
which I myself have seen and read."* And,
therefore, it is a most intolerable folly to pretend
that the pope cannot err in his chair, though he
may err in his closet, and may maintain a lalse
o])inion even to his death ; for, besides that it is
sottish to think that either he would not have tlie
world of his own opinion (as all men naturally
would), or that if he were set in his chair, he would
determine contrary to himself in his study (and
therefore represent it as possible, they are fain to
fly to a miracle, for which they have no color,
neither instructions, nor insinuation, nor w\arrant,
nor promise), besides that it were impious and

* " Neque Cselestini error talis fuit qui soli negligentiae
imputari debeat, ita ut ilium errasse dicamus velut privatam
personam et non ut papam, quoniam hujusmorii Cslestini
definitio habetur in antiquis decretalibus, in cap. Laudabilem,
titulo de conversione infidelium ; quam ego ipse vidi et legi."
—Lib. i. adv. Haeres. cap. 4.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING* 247

yfireasonable to depose him for heresy, who iriaj
so easily, even by setting himself in his chair,
and reviewing his theorems, be cured ; it is also
against a very great experience : for. besides the
former allegations, it is most notorious, that Pope
Alexander III, in a council at Rome of three
hundred archbishops and bishops, A, D. 1179,
condemned Peter Lombard of heresy in a matter
of great concernment, no less than something about
the incarnation ; from which sentence he was, after
thirty-six years abiding it, absolved by Pope In-
nocent III, without repentance or dereliction of ■'
the opinion. Now if this sentence was not a
catkedr:il dictate, as solemn and great as could
be expected, or as is said to be necessary to oblige
all Christendom, let the great hyperaspists of the
Roman church be judges, wiio tell us that a par-
ticular council, witli the pope's confirmation, is
made cecumenical by adoption, and is infallible,
and obliges all Christendom ;* so Bellarniine;
and therefore, he says, that it is " rash, erroneous,
and bordering on heresy ,"t to deny it: but whether
it be or not it is all one, as to my purpose ; for it is
certain that in a particular council, confirmed by
the pope, if ever, then and there the pope sat him-
self in his chair; and it is as certain that he sat
besides the cushion, and determined ridiculously
and falsely in this case: but this is a device for
which there is no Scripture, no tradition, no one
dogmatical resolute saying of any father, Greek or
Latin, for above one thousand years after Christ;
and themselves, when they list, can acknowledge
as much.t And, therefore, Bellarmine's saying I

* Lib. ii. de Concil. cap. 5.

t "Temerarium, erroneuin, et proximum haeresi."
t De Pontif. Rom. c. 14, ^ Respondeo. In 3 sent. d. 24.
q. in con. 6. dub. 6, in fine.

248 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

perceivej is believed by them to be true, that there
are many things in the decretal epistles which
make not articles to be de fide. And, therefore,
*' We are not implicitly to believe whatever
the pope decrees,"* says Almain. And this serves
their turns in every thing they do not like ; and,
therefore, I am resolved it shall serve my turn
also for something; and that is, that the matter
of the pope's infallibility is so ridiculous and
improbable, that they do not believe it themselves.
Some of them clearly practised the contrary ; and
^though pope Leo X hath determined the pope
to be above a council, yet the Sorbonne to this
day scorn it at the very heart. And I might
urge upon them that scorn that Almain truly
enough, by way of argument, alleges.! It is a
wonder that they who affirm the pope cannot err in
judgment, do not also affirm that he cannot sin :
they are like enough to say so, says he, if the
vicious lives of the popes did not make a daily
confutation of such flattery. Now, for my own
particular, I am as confident, and think it as
certain, that popes are actually deceived in matters
of Christian doctrine, as that they do prevaricate
the laws of Christian piety ; and therefore, Alphon-
sus a Castro calls them " impudent flatterers of
the pope, "J that ascribe to him infallibility in
judgment, or interpretation of Scripture.

But, if themselves did believe it heartily, what
excuse is there in the world for the strange un-

* " Non est necessario credendum determinatis per sum-
mum pontificem."

t De Authorit. Eccles. cap. 10, in fine.

\ " Impudentes papae assentatores." — Lib. i. c. 4, ad vers.
Haeres. edit. Paris, 1534. In seqq. non expurgantur ista
verba, at idem sensus manet.

THE LlBER'l Y OF PROPHESYING. 249

charitableness or supine negligence of the popes,
that tkej do not set theniseb/es in their chair, and
v/rite infallible commentaries, and determine all
controversies without error, and blast all heresies
with the word of their mouth, declare what is and
what is not dc fide, that their disciples and con-
^dents may agree upon it; reconcile the Francis-
cans and Dominicans, and expound all mysteries?
For it cannot be imagined, but he that was endued
with so supreme power in order to so great ends,
was also fitted with proportiona')le, that is ex-
traordinary, personal abilities, succeeding and
derived upon the persons of all the popes. And
then the doctors of his church need not trouble
themselves with study, nor writing explications
of Scripture, but might wholly attend to practical
devotion, and leave all their scholastical wrang-
lings, the distinguishing opinions of their orders;
and tliey might have a fine church, som.ethino; like
fairy land, or Lucian's kingdom in the moon.
But, if they say they cannot do this when they
list, but when they are moved to it by the Spirit,
then we are never the nearer ; for so may the
bishop of Angouleme write infallible commen-
taries v;hen the Holy Ghost moves him to it ; for
I suppose his motions are not ineffectual, but he
will sufiiciently assist us in performing of what
he actually moves us to ; but, among so many
hundred decrees which the popes of Rome have
made or confirmed and attested (which is all one),
I would fain know in how many of them did
the Holy Ghost assist them? If they know it,
let them declare it, that it may be certain which
of their decretals are de fide ^ for as yet none of
their own church knows. If they do not know,
then neither can we know it from them, and then

250 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

we are uncertain as ever ; and, besides, the Holy
Ghost may possibly move him, and he by his
ignorance of it, maj^ neglect so profitable a motion,
and then his promise of infallible assistance will
be to very little purpose, because it is with very
much fallibility applicable to practice. And,
therefore, it is absolutely useless to any man or any
church ; because, suppose it settled in Thesi, that
the pope is infallible, yet whether he will do his
duty and perform those conditions of being assisted
which are required of him, or whether he be a secret
Simoniac (for if he be, he is ipso facto no pope),
or whether he be a bishop, or priest, or a Christian,
being all uncertain ; every one of these depending
upon the intention and power of the baptizer or
ordainer, which also are fallible, because they
depend upon the honesty and power of other
men, we cannot be infallibly certain of any pope
that he is infallible; and, therefore, when our
questions are determined, we are never the nearer,
but may hug ourselves in an imaginary truth ; the
certainty of finding truth out depending upon so
many fidlible and contingent circumstances. And,
therefore, the thing, if it were true, being so to no
purpose, it is to be presumed that God never gave
a power so impertinently, and from whence no
benefit can accrue to the Christian church for whose
use and benefit, if at all, it must needs have been
appointed.

But I am too long in this impertinenpy. If I
were bound to call any man master upon earth,
and to believe him upon his own aflirmative and
authority, I would, of all men, least follow him
that pretends he is infallible and cannot prove it.
For that he cannot prove it, makes me as uncertain
as ever; and that he pretends to infallibility

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 251

makes him careless of using such means which
will morally secure those wise persons, wlio,
knowing their own aptness to be deceived, use
what endeavors they can to secure themselves
from error, and so become the better and more
probable guides.

Well ! thus far we are come ; although we are
secured in fundamental points from involuntary
error, by the plain, express, and dogmatical places
of Scripture, yet, in other things, we are not, but
may be invincibly mistaken, because of the ob-
scurity and difRculty in the controverted parts of
Scripture, by reason of the uncertainty of the
means of its interpretation; since tradition is of
an uncertain reputation, and sometimes evidently
false ; councils are contradictory to each other,
and therefore, certainly are equally deceived
many of them, and therefore all may; and then
the popes of Rome are very likely to mislead us,
but cannot ascertain us of truth in matter of ques-
tion ; and in this world we believe in part, and pro-
phesy in part ; and this imperfection shall never be
done away, till we be translated to a more glorious
state ; either we must throw our chances, and get
truth by accident or predestination, or else we
must lie safe in a mutual toleration, and private
liberty of persuasion, unless some other anchor
can be thought upon, where we may fasten our
floating vessels, and ride safely.

25^ THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SECTION Vlli.

Of the Disability of Fathers or Writers Ecclesias-
tical^ to determine our Questions, ivith certainty
and tnith.

There are some that think thej can determine
all questions in the world bv two' or three sayings
t)f the Fathers, or by the consent of so many as
they will please to call a concurrent testimony.
But tliis coDsideration will soon be at an end ; ^m,
if the fiithers, when they are witnesses of tradition,
do not always speak truth, as it happened in Xi\Q
case of Papias and his numerous follo\vers, for
almost tliree ages together, then is tlieir testimony
more improbable when they dispute or write com-
mentaries.

2. The fathers of the first ages spake unitedly
concerning divers fjuestionsof secret theology, and
jet were afterwards contradicted by one personage
of great reputation, whose credit had so much in-
Huence upon tlie world, as to make tlie contrary
opinion become popular : why, then, may not we
have the same liberty, when so plain an uncertainty
is in their persuasions, and so great contrariety in
their doctrines ? But this is evident in the case
of absolute predestination, which, till St. Austin's
time, no man preached, but all taught the contrary ;
and yet the reputation of this one excellent man
altered the scene. But, if he might dissent from
so general a doctrine, why may not we do so too,
it being pretended that he is so excellent a prece-

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYLXG. 253

dent to be followed, if we have the same reason ?
He had no more authority nor dispensation to dis-
sent, than any bishop hath now. And therefore
St. Austin hath dealt ingenuously ; and as he took
this liberty to liimself, so he denies it not to others,
but, indeed, forces them to preserve their own
liberty. And, therefore, when St. Jerome'^ had a
great mind to follow the fathers in a point that he
fancied, and the best security he had was, Patiaris
me. cum talibus errare^ "You may allow me to err
with such men,*' St. Austin would not endure it,
but answered his reason, and neglected the autho-
rity. And therefore it had been most unreasona-
ble that we should do that now, though in his
behalf, which he, towards greater personages (for
so they were then), at that time judged to be un-
reasonable. It is a plain recession from antiquity,
which was determined by the council of Florence,
"that the souls of the saints are received imme-
diately in heaven, and clearly behold God himself,
three in one;"t as who please to try, may see it
dogmatically resolved to the contrary by Justin
Martyr,! Ira2neus,§ by Origen,!i St. Chrysostom,^
Tiieodoret,"^-* Arethas CiEsariensis.'iT Euthymius,:}^:
v/ho may answer for the Greek church ; and it is
plain that it was the opinion of ihe Greek churchy
by that great difficulty the Romans had of bringing
the Greeks to subscribe to the Florentine council,
where the Latins acted their masterpeice of wit
and stratagem, the greatest that hath been till the
famous and superpolitic design of Trent. And for

* Ses3. ult.

t "Piorum animas purgatas, &.c. mox in ccelutn recipi, et
intueri dare ipsum Deum trinum et enum sicuti est."
X Q. 60, ad. Christian. § Lib. v. II Horn. vii. in Levit
^ Horn, xxxix. in 1 Cor. ** In c. 11, ad. Heb

ft In c. 6, ad Apoc. \X In 16, c. Luc.

254 THE SACRED CLASSIC:?.

the Latin church, TertuUian,- St. Ambrose,! St.
Austin;! St. Hilary, § Prudentius,!! Lactantius,5[
Victorinus Martyr,** and St. Bernard,!!' are known
to be of opinion that the souls of the saints
are in abditis receptacidis et exierioribus atriis,
"in secret receptacles and outer courts,'- where
they expect the resurrection of tiieir bodies,
and the gloriiication of their souls ; and though
they all believe them to be happy, yet tiiey enjoy
not the beatific, vision before the resurrection.
Now, there being so full a consent of Fathers (for
many more may be added), and the decree of pope
John XXIi besides, who was so confident for Ids
decree, that he commanded tiie university of Paris
to swear that they would preach it and !io other,
and that none should be promoted to deforces in
theolooy that did not swear the like (as ()ccham,j:^
Gerson,§§ Marsilius,|l|| and Adrianus,^11 report).
Since it is esteemed lawful to diss-ent from all these,
I hope no man will be so unjust to press other men
to consent to an authority which he himself judges
to be incomjjctent. 'i'hese two great instances
are enough; but if more were necessary, I could
instance, in the opinion of the Chiliasts, maintained
by the second and tidrd centuries, and disavowed
ever since; in the doctrine of communicating
infants, taught and practised as necessary by the
fourth and fifth centuries, and detested by the

'* Lib. iv. adv. Mar. f Lib. ii. de. Cain. c. 2.

X Ep. iii. ad Fortunatianum. § In Psal. 133.

II De exeq. Uefunctor. H Lib. vii. c. 21. ** In c. 6', Apoc.

ft Serm. iii. d^) Oin. Sanctis. Vid. eniui St. Aug", in
Enchir. c. lOS, ct lib. xii. de Civit. Dei. c. 9, ot in Ps. 36, et
in lib. i. Retract, c. 1-1. Vid. iusuper testiuionia f|iire collegit
Spala. lib. V. c. 8. n. 98, de Repub. Eccl. et Sixt. Scnen.
lib. 6, Annot. 345.

X\ In Oper. nonao;. dierum. C«\j Seim. de Paschat.

nil In iv. sent. q. 13. a 3. HTl In 4, de Sacrara. Cofiiinal.

THE LIliERTY OF PROPHESYING. iiOO

Latin church in all the follosving ages; in the
variety of opinions concerning the very form of
baptism ; some keeping close to tlie institution and
the words of its first sanction, others affirminjj; it
to be sufficient, if it be administered in nomine
Chrlsti ;^ particularly St. Ambrose, pope Nicho-
las I. V. Bedet and St. Bernard,! besides some
writers of after ages, as Hugo de 8. Victore, and
the doctors generally, his contemporaries. And
it would not be inconsiderable to observe, that if
any synod, general, national, or provincial, be re-
ceded from by the church of the later age (as there
have been very many), then, so many fatliers as
were then assembled and united in opinion, are
esteemed no authority to determine our persua-
sions. Now, suppose two hundred, fathers assem-
bled in such a council, if all they had writ books
and authorities, two hundred authorities had been
alleged in confirmation of an opinion, it would have
made a mighty noise, and loaded any man with v,n
insupportable prejudice that should dissent : and
yet every opinion maintained against the authority
of any one council, though but provincial, is, in iU
proportion, such a violent recession and neglect of
the authority and doctrine of so many fiithers as
were then assembled, who did as much declare
their opinion in those assemblies, by their sufiVages,
as if they had v;rit it in so many books; and tlieir
opinion is more considerable in the assembly than
in their writings, because it was more deliberate,
assisted, united, and dogmaticaL In pursuance
of this observation, it is to be noted, by way of
instance, that St. Austin, and two hundred and

* De CoDsecral. dist 4, c. a quod in Judeo.
t lu c. 10, Act i Ep. 340.

256 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

seventeen bishops, and all their successors,' lor a
whole age together, did consent in denying appeals
to Rome ; and yet the authority of so many lathers
(all true catholics) is of no force now at Rome, in
this question ; but if it be in a matter they like,
one of these fathers alone is sufficient. The doc-
trine of St. Austin alone brought in the festival
and veneration of the assumption of the bless?e.^
virgin, and the hard sentence passed at Rome upon
unbaptized infants, and the Dominican opinion
concerning predetermination, derived from him
alone, as from their original; so that if a fath,^^'
speaks for them, it is wonderful to see what tr^,-
gedies are stirred up against them that dissent^^a^
is to be seen in that excellent nothing of Campian'^
ten reasons. But if the fathers be against then.},
then " the fathers have, in some things, n->istakqn
in no slight degree, and some of them most
egregiously,"t says Bellarmine; and it is certain,,
the chiefest of them have foully erred. Nay, Posa,
Salmeron, and Wadding, in tlie question of th^,
immaculate conception, make no scruple to disseiit
from antiquity, to prefer new doctors before tl^f,
old ; and, to justif}' themselves, bring instances ij^
which the church of Rome had determined against
the fathers. And it is not excuse enough to say
that, singly, the fathers may err; but if they conr
cur they are certain testimony : for there is n.a

* Vid. Epist. Bonifacii II, apud Nicolinum, torn. ii. Con-
cil. page 544, et exemplar precum Eulalii apud eundem, ibid.;
p. 525. Qui anatheinatizat omnes decessores suos, qui, in ea
causa, Roma se opponendo rectre fidei regulam praevaricati
sunt; inter quos taraen fuit Augustinus, quem pro raaledicto'^^
Caelestinus tacite agnoscit, admittendo sc. exemplar precuin..T
Vid. Doctor. Marta. de Jurisdict. part. iv. p. 273, et Erasini^-
Annot. in Hieron. p'r^efat. in Daniel.

t "Patres in quibusdam non leviter lapsi sunt ; constat^,-
quosdara ex prsecipuis. — De. Verb. Dei, lib. iii. c. 10, § dices.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 257

question this daj disputed, by persons that are
willing to be tried by the fathers, so generally
attested on either side as some points are, which
both sides dislike severally or conjunctly: and
therefore, it is not honest for either side to press
the authority of the fathers, as a concluding
argument in matter of dispute, unless themselves
v.'il] be content to submit, in all things, to the
testimony of an equal number of them; wliicli I
am certain neither side will do.

3, If I should reckon all the particular reasons
against the certainty of this topic, it would be more
than needs as to this question ; and therefore 1
will abstain from all dispara2;ement of those worthy
personages, who were excellent lights to their
several dioceses and cures. And therefore I will
not instance that Clement Alesandrinus* taught,
that Christ felt no hunger or thirst, but eat only to
make demonstration of the verity of his human
nature ; nor that St. Hilary taught that Christ in
his sufferings, had no sorrow ; nor that Origeu
taught the pains of hell not to have an eternal
duration ; nor that St. Cyprian taught rebaptiza-
tion ; nor that Athenagoras condemned second
marriages; nor that St. John Damascen said,
Christ only prayed in appearance, not really and
in truth: I will let them all rest in peace, and
their memories in honor. For if I should inquire
into the particular probations of this article, I
must do to them as I should be forced to do now :
if any man should say that the writings of the
schoolmen were excellent argument and authority
to determine men's persuasions, I must consider
their writings, and observe their defailances, their
contradictions, the weakness of their arguments,

* Strom, lib. iii, et vi,
22*

25S THE SACRI^D CLASSICS.

the misallegations of Scripture, their inconse-
quent deductions, their folse opinions, and all the
weaknesses of humauitv, and the failings of their
persons, which no good man is willing to do,
unless he be compelled to it by a pretence that
they are infallible, or that they are followed by
men even into errors or impiety. And, therefore,
since there is enough in the former instances to
cure any such mispersuasion and prejudice, I will
instance, in tlie innumerable particularities that
might persuade us to keep our liberty entire, or to
use it discreetly. For it is not to be denied but
that great advantages are to be made by their
writings, etprobabile est quod omnibus, quod pluri-
hus, quod sapientibus videtur ; if one wise man
says a thing, it is an argument to me to believe it
in its degree of probation ; that is, proportionable
to such an assent as the authority of a wise man
can produce, and wlien there is nothing against it
that is greater ; and so in proportion, higher and
higher, as more wise men (such as the old doctors
were) do affirm it. But that which I complain of
is, that we look upon wise men that lived long
ago, with so much veneration and mistake, that
we reverence them, not for having been wise men,
but that they lived long since. But, when the
question is concerning authority, there must be
something to build it on ; a Divine commandment,
human sanction, excellency of spirit, and greatness
of understanding, on which things all human
authority is regularly built. But, now, if we had
lived in their times (for so we must look upon
them now, as they did who, without prejudice,
beheld them), I suppose we should then have
beheld them as we, in England, look on those
prelates who are of great reputation for learniag

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 259

and sanctity : here only is the difference ; when
persons are living, their authority is depressed by
their personal defailances and the contrary in-
terests of their contemporaries, which disband,
when they are dead, and leave their credit entire,
upon the reputation of those excellent books and
monuments of learning and piety which are left
behind : but beyond this, why the bishop of Hippo
shall have greater authority than the bishop of the
Canaries, cxteris paribus, I understand not. For
did they that lived (to instance) in St. Austin's
time, believe all that he w rote ? If they did they
were much to blame, or else himself wis to blame
for retracting much of it a little before liis death :
and if, while he lived, his affirmative was no more
authority than derives from the credit of one very
wise man? against whom, also, very wise men
W'ere opposed, I know not why his authority
should prevail further now ; for there is nothing
added to the strength of his reason since that time,
but only that he hath been in great esteem with
posterity. And if that be all, why the opinion of
the following ages shall be of more force than the
opinion of the first ages, against whom St. Austin,
in many things, clearly did oppose himself, I see
no reason ; or whether the first ages were against
him, or no, yet that he is approved by the follow-
ing ages is no better argument; for it makes his
authority not to be innate, but derived from the
opinion of others, and so to be precarious, and to
depend upon others, who, if they should change
their opinions, and such examples there have been
many, then there were nothing left to urge our
consent to him ; which, when it was at the best,
"was only this, because he had the good fortune to
^fte believed by them that came after, he must be

260 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SO still ; and because it was no argument for the
old doctors before him, this will not be very good
in his behalf. The same I saj of any company of
them ; I say not so of all of them ; it is to no
purpose to say it; for there is no question this day
in contestation, in the explication of which all the
old writers did consent. In the assignation of
the canon of Scripture, they never did consent for
six hundred years together; and then, by that
time the bishops had agreed indifferently well and
but indifferently, upon that, they fell out in twenty
more ; and except it be in the apostles' creed, and
articles of such nature, there is nothing which
may, with any color, be called a consent, much
less tradition universal.

4. But I will rather choose to show the un-
certainty of this topic, by such an argument which
was not in the father's power to help; such as
makes no invasion upon their great reputation,
which I desire should be preserved as sacred as it
ought. For other things, let who please, read Mr.
Daille, *• On the true use of the Fathers ;" but I
shall only consider, that the writings of the fathers
have been so corrupted by the intermixture of
heretics, so many false books put forth in their
names, so many of their writings lost which would
more clearly have explicated their sense ; and, at
last, an open profession made, and a trade of
making the fathers speak, not what themselves
thought, but what other men pleased ; that it is a
great instance of God's providence, and careof
his church, that we have so much good preserved
in the writings which we receive from the fathers,
and that all truth is not as clear gone as is the
certainty of their great authority and reputation.

The publishing books with the inscription of

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 261

grpat names, began in St. Paul's time ; for some
had troubled the church of Thessalonica with a
false epistle, in St. Paul's name, against the incon-
venience of which he arms them, in 2 Thess, ii. 1 ;
and this increased daily in the church. The
Arians wrote an epistle to Constantine,* under
the name of Athanasius, and the Eutychians wrote
against Cyril of Alexandria, under the name of
Theodoret ; and of the age in which the seventh
synod was kept, Erasmus reports, '' That books,
under the assumed name of illustrious men, were
everywhere to be met with."t It was then a
public business, and a trick not more base than
public : but it was more ancient than so, and it is
memorable in the books attributed to St. Basil,
containing thirty chapters '' concerning the Holy
Spirit," whereof, fifteen were plainly added by
another hand, under the covert of St. Basil,
as appears in the diiference of the style, in the
impertinent digressions, against the custom of that
excellent man, by some passages contradictory to
others of St. Basil, by citing Meletius as dead be-
fore him, who yet lived, three years after him,±
and by the very frame and manner of the dis-
course ; and yet it was so handsomely carried, and
so well served the purposes of men,' that it was
quoted under the title of St. Basil by many, but
without naming the number of chapters, and by
St. John Damascen, in these words : ^' Basil, in
a work containing thirty chapters, to Amphilo-
chius;"§ and to the same purpose, and in the

* Apolo^. Athenas. ad. Constant.

t"Libris falso celebrium virorum titulo commendatis
scatere omnia." — Vid. Baron, a. d. 553.

X Vid. Baron, in Annal.

§ " Basilius in opere triginta capitum de Spiritu S. ad Am-
philochiura." — Lib. i. de Iraagin. Orat. 1.

262 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

number of twenty-seven and twenty-nine chapters,
he is cited by Photius,* by Euthymius, by
Burchard, by Zonaras, Balsamon, and Nicepho-
rus; but for this, see more in Erasmus's preface
upon this book of St. Basil. There is an epistle
goes still under the name of St. Jerome, to the
virgin Demetrias, and is of great use in the ques-
tion of predestination, with its appendices, and
yet a very learned mant, eight hundred years ago,
did believe it to be written by a Pelagian, and
undertakes to confute divers parts of it, as being
high and confident Pelagianism, and written by
Julianus Episc. Eclanensis;± butGregorius Arimi-
nensis, from St. Austin, afiirms it to have been
written by Pelagius himself. I might instance in
too many. There is not any one of the fathers
who is esteemed author of any considerable
number of books, that hath escaped untouched :
but the abuse in this kind hath been so evident,
that now, if any interested person, of any side, be
pressed v/ith an authority very pregnant against
him, he thinks to escape by accusing the edition,
or the author, or the hands it passed through, or,
at last, he therefore suspects it, because it makes
against him : both sides being i-esolved that they
are in the right, the authorities that they admit
they will believe not to be against them ; and they
which are too plainly against them shall be no au-
thorities : and, indeed, the whole world hath been so
much abused, that every man tliitiks he hath reason
to suspect whatsoever is against him, that is, v/hathe
please; which proceeding only produces this truth,
that there neither is, nor can be any certainty, nor
very much probability, in such allegations.

* Nomocan. tit. i. cap. 3.

t V. Beda de Gratia Christi. ad v. Julianura.

JGreg. Arim. in ii. sent. dist. xxvi. q. 1. a. 3.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. i263

But there is a worse mischief than this, besides
those very many uhich are not yet discovered,
which like the pestilence destroys in the dark, and
grows into inconvenience more insensibly and
more irremediably ; and that is, corruption of
particular places, by inserting words and altering
them to contrary senses ; a thing which tlie fathers
of the sixth general synod complained of con-
cerning the constitutions of St. Clement, '-in
which certain corruptions of the true faitli are
introduced by persons heretically inclined, Avhich
have obscured the beauty of the divine decrees ;"*
and so also have his recognitions, so have his
epistles been used, if, at least, they were his at
all ; particularly the fifth decretal epistle, tliat
goes under the name of St. Clement, in wliich
community of wives is taught upon the authority
of St. Luke, saying, the first Christians ha;l all
things common ; if all things, then wives also, says
tiie epistle: a forgery like to have been done by
some Nicolaitan, or other impure person. There
is an epistle of Cyril extant, to Successii:^ bishop
of Dioccesarea, in which he relates, that lie was
asked by Budus, bishop of Emessa, whethior he
did approve of the epistle of Athcinasius to
Epictetus, bisiiop of Corinth, and that his answer
was : '-If the copies you have are not corrupted,
for many are found to be so by the enemies of the
church.'-f And this v/as done even while the
authors themselves were alive ; for so Dionysius

* " Quibus jam olim, ab iis qui a fide aliena sentiunt, adul-
terina qua^dam etiain pietate aliena introducta sunt, quae
divinorum nobis decretoruai olegantem et venustam speciem
obscuraruiit." — Can. ii.

t "Si hsec apud vos scripta non sint aduKera; nam plura
ex his ab iiostibus Ecclesias dcprehcnduntur esse depravata."
— Euseb. lib. iv. c. 23.

^64 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

of Corinth complained that his writings were cor-
rupted by heretics, and Pope Leo, that his epistle
to Flavianus was perverted by the Greeks : and in
the synod of Constantinople,* before quoted, (the
sixth synod,) Macarius, and his disciples, were
convicted "of garbling, or corrupting the writings
of the saints."! Thus the third chapter of St.
Cyprian's book, " On the Unity of the church,"
in the edition of Pamelius, suffered great altera-
tion. These words, primatus Petro dafiir, *' the
primacy is given to St. Peter," wholly inserted ;
and these, sitpcr cathcdram Petri fundatar est
ecclesia, '' the church is founded upon the chair of
St. Peter :" and whereas it was before, sicper mmm
xdijicat ecclesiam Christus, "Christ builds his
church upon one ;" that not being enough, they
have made it super ilium ununiy " upon that one."
Now, these editions are against the faith of all old
copies before Minutius and Pamelius, and against
Gratian, even after himself had been chastised by
the Roman correctors, the commissaries of Gre-
gory XIII ; as is to be seen where these words
are alleged, Decref. c. 24, q. 1. can. Loquitur
Dominus ad Petrwn. So that we may say of
Cyprian's works, as Pamelius himself said con-
cerning his writings, anrl the writings of other of
the fathers; saith he: " Whence we gather, that
the writings of Cyprian, and others of the fathers,
are in various ways corrupted by the transcribers.":):
But Gratian himself could do as fine a feat when
he listed, or else somebody did it for him ; and it

* Act. viii. vid. etiara Synod, vii. act. 4.

t " Quod sanctorum testimonia aut truncarint aut depiava-
rint."

X " Cypriani scripta ut et aliorum Veterum a librariis varie\^
fuisse interpolata." — Annot. Ciprian. super. Concil. Car^ ;
thag. n. 1.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 265

was in this verj question, tiieir beloved article of
the pope's supremacy ; for he quotes these words
out ' of St. Ambrose : " Thej do not hold the
inheritance of Peter, who do not possess the seat
of Peter :"* Jidem, '' faith," not sedem, ** seat," it
is in St. Ambrose; but this error was made
authentic bv being inserted into the code of the
law of the catholic church ; and considering how
little notice the clergy had of antiquity, but what
was transmitted to them by Gratian, it will be no
great wonder that all this part of the w^orld swal-
lowed such a bole, and the opinion that was
wrapped in it. But I need not instance in Gratian
any further, but refer any one that desires to be
satisfied concerning this collection of his, to Au-
gustinus. avclibi^hop of Tarracon, in Emcndctfinnc
Graiiani, where lie sliall find fopperies and cor-
ruptions, good store, noted by that learned man:
but that the Indices Exjmrgator'ii, commanded by
authority,! and practised with public licence,
profess to alter and correct the sayings of the
fathers, and to reconcile them to the catholic sense,
by putting in and leaving out, is so great an im-
posture, so unchristian a proceeding, that it hatli
made the faith of ail books and all authors justly
to be suspected. For considering their infinite
diligence and great opportunity, as liaving had
most of the copies in their own hands, together
with an unsatisfiable desire of prevailing in their
right, or in their wrong, they have made an ab-
solute destruction of this topic ; and when the

* " Non habent Petri haereditatem, qui iion habent Petri
sedem.

t Vid. Ind. Expurg. Belg. in Bertram, et Fland. Hispan.
Portugal. Neopolitan. Romanum. Junium in prefat. ad Ind.
Expurg. Belg. Hasenmusserum, p. 275. Withlington, Ano-
log. num. 449.
23

266 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

fathers speak Latin,- or breathe in a Roman diocess,
although the providence of God does infinitely
overrule them, and that it is next to a miracle,
that in the monuments of antiquity there is no
more found that can pretend for their advantage
than there is, which, indeed, is infinitely incon-
siderable ; yet, our questions and uncertainties are
infinitely multiplied, instead of a probable and
reasonable determination. For since the liatins
always complained of the Greeks, for privately
corrupting the ancient records, both of councils
and fathers,! and now the Latins make open pro-
fession, not of corrupting, but of correcting their
writings (that is the word), and at the most it was
but a human authority, and that of persons not
always learned, and very often deceived; the
whole mater is so unreasonable, that it is not
worth a further disquisition. But if any one de-
sires to inquire further, he may be satisfied in
Erasmus; in Henry and Robert Stephens, in the
prefaces before the editions of Fathers, and their
observation upon them; in Bellarmine, de Script.
Eccles.; in Dr. Reynolds, de Lihris Jjpocryphis ; in
Scaliger; and Robert Coke of I^eeds, in Yorkshire,
in his bdok de Censura Painnn.

* Videat Lector Andreatn Cristovium, in Bello Jesuitico,
et Joh. Reynolds, in lib. df' Idol. Rom.
t Vid. Ep. JN'icoiai ad Michael. Imperat.

THE ; IBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 267

SECTION IX.

(f thi incompetency of the Church in its diffusive
capacity to be judge of controversies, and the im-
pertinency of tliat pretence of the Spirit.

And now, after all these considerations of the se-
veral topics, tradition, councils, popes, and ancient
doctors of the church, I suppose it will not be ne-
cessary to consider the authority of the church
apart; for the church either speaks by tradition,
or by a representative body in a council, by popes,
or by the fathers : for the church is not a chimera,
not a shadow, but a company of men believinij in
Jesus Christ, which men either speak by themselves
immediately, or by their rulers, or by their proxies
and representatives. Now, I have considered it in
all senses but in its diffusive capacity; in which
capacity she cannot be supposed to be a judge of
controversies, both because in that capacit"^^ she
cannot teach us, as also because if by a judge we
mean all the church diffused in all its part's and
members, so there can be 1:0 controversy ; for if
all men be of that opinion, then there is no question
contested : if they be not all of a mind, how can
the whole diff*usive catholic church be pretended
in defiance of any one article, where tiie diffusive
church being divided, part goes this way and part
another ? But if it be said, the greatest part must
carry it ;^ besides that it is impossible for us to
know which way the greatest part goes, in many
questions, it is not always true that the greater

268 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

part is the best ; sometimes the contrary is must
certain, and it is often very probable, but it is
always possible. And when paucity of followers
was objected to Liberius, he gave this in answer:
" There was a time when but three children of
the captivity resisted the king's decree."* And
Athanasiust wrote on purpose against those that
did judge of truth by multitudes ; and indeed it
concerned him so to do, when he alone stood
in the gap against the numerous armies of the
Arians.

But if there could, in this case, be any distinct
consideration of the churcli, yet to know which is
the true church is so hard to be found out, that
the greatest question of Christendom are judged
before you can get to your judge, and then there
is no need of him. For those questions which
are concerning the judge of questions, must be
determined before you can submit to his judgment ;
and if you can yourselves determine those great
questions, which consist much in universalities,
then also you may determine the particulars, as
being of less difficulty. And he that considers how
many notes there are given to know the true
church (no less than fifteen by Bellarmine) and
concerning every one of them, almost, whether it
be a certain note or no, there are very many
questions and uncertainties ; and v/hen it is re-
solved which are the notes, there is more dispute
about tlie application of these notes than of the
Upm-ozpivo/utivov ■ (original question), will quickly be
satisfied that he had better sit still than to go round
about a difficult and troublesome passage, and at
last get no further, but return to the place from
whence he first set out. And there is one note

* Theod. lib. ii. c. 16, Hist. f Tom. ii.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 269

amongst the rest, — holiness of doctrine ; — that is
so as to have nothing false either in faith or morals,
(for so Bellarmine explicates it), which supposes
all your controversies judged before they can be
tried by the authority of .the church ; and when
we have fotind out all true doctrine, (for that is
necessary to judge of the church by that as St.
Austin's council is, "We should look for the
church in the words of Christ) ;"'■■ then we are
bound to follow because we judge it true, not
because the church hath said it : — ^and this is to
judge of the church by her doctrine ; not of the
doctrine by the church. And, indeed, it is the
best and only way; but then how to judge of that
doctrine will be afterwards inf|uired into. In tlic
mean time, the church, that is, the governors of
the churches, are to jud2;e for themselves, and
for all those v/ho cannot judge for themselves.
For others, they must know that their governors
judge for them too, so as to keep them in peace
and obedience, though not for the determination
of tlieir private persuasions ; for the. economy of
the cliurch requires that her authority be received
by all her children. Now this authority is divine in
Us original, for it derives immediately from Christ,
but it is human in its ministration. We arc to be
led like men, not like beasts: a rule is prescribed
for the guides themselves to foUou', as we are to
follow the n-uides; and althou;2;h, in matters inde-
terminable or ambiguous, the presumption lies on
behalf of the governors (for we do nothing for
authority, if we suffer it not to weigh that part
down of an indiftcrency and a question which she
chooses) : yet if there be a manifest error, as it
often happens, or if the church governors them-
* "Ecclesiam in verbis Christi investigemus."

270 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

selves be rent into innumerable sects, as it is this
daj in Christendom, then we are to be as wise as
we can in choosing our guides, and then to fol-
low so long as that reason remains for which we
first chose them. And even in that government
which was an immediate sanction of God, I mean
the ecclesiastical government of the synagogue,
where God had consigned the high priest's au-
thority, with a menace of death to them that
should disobey, that all the world might know the
meaning and extent of such precepts, and that
there is a limit beyond which they cannot com-
mand, and we ought not to obey ; it came once to
pass, that if the priest had been obeyed in his
conciliary degrees, the whole nation had been
bound to believe the condemnation of our blessed
Savior to have been just ; and, at another time,
the apostles must no more have preached in the
name of Jesus. But here was manifest error:
and the case is tlie same to every man that in-
vincibly, and therefore innocently, believes it so.
"^ Obey God rather than man,' is our rule in such
cases. For although every man is bound to follow
his guide, unless he believes his guide to mislead
him, yet when he sees reason against his guide it
is best to follow his reason ; for though in this he
may fall into error, yet he will escape the sin — he
may do violence to trutli, but never to his own
conscience ; and an honest error is better than an
hypocritical profession of truth, or a violent luxa-
tion of the understanding; since, if he retains
his honesty and simplicity, he cannot err in a
matter of faith or absolute necessity. God's
goodness hath secured all honest and careful
persons from that — for other things he must fol-
low the best guides he can, :.nd he cannot be

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 271

obliged to follow better than God hath given
Jjim.

^i.- And there is yet another way pretended, of
infallible expositions of Scripture, and that is, by
the Spirit : but of this I shall say no more, but
that it is impertinent to this question. For put
case, the Spirit is given to some men, enabling
tliem to expound infallibly; yet because this is
but a private assistance, and cannot be proved to
others, this infallible assistance may determine my
own assent, but shall not enable me to prescribe
to others; because it were unreasonable I should,
unless I could prove to him that I have the Spirit,
and so can secure him from being deceived, if he
relies upon me. In this case I may sav, as St.
Paul, in the case of praying with the Spirit : ^ He
verily giveth thanks well : but the other is not
edified.' So that, let this pretence be as true as
it will, it is sufficient that it cannot be of consi-
deration in this question.

The result of all this — since it is not reasonable
to limit and to prescribe to all men's understand-
ings, by any external rule in the interpretation of
difficult places of Scripture, which is our rule ;
since no man, nor company of men, is secure from
error, or can secure us that they are iVee from
malice, interest, and design ; and since all the
ways by which we usually are taught, as tradition,
councils, decretals, 6cc. are very uncertain in the
matter, in their authority, in their being legita-
mate and natural, and many of them certainly
false, and nothing certain but the divine authority
of Scripture^ in which all that is necessary is
plain, and much of that that is not necessary, is
very obscure, intricate, and involved ; either we
must set up our rest only upon articles of faith

27^ THE SACRED CLASSICS.

and plain places, and be incurious of other ob-
scurer revelations (which is a duty for persons
of private understandings, and of no public func-
tion) ; or, if we will search further (to which, in
some measure the guides of others are obliged), it
remains, we inquire iiow men may det'ermine
themselves, so as to do their duty to God and not
to disserve the church, that every such man may
do ^vhat he is bound to, in his personal capa-
city, and as he relates to the public as a public
minister.

SECTION X

Of the Authority of Reason^ mid that it proceeding
upon best grounds is the best judge.

Here then I consider, that although no man
may be trusted to judge for all others, unless this
person were infallible anil authorized so to do,
which no man nor no company of men is,. y\it every
man may be trusted to judge for himself; I say
"every man that can judge at' all (as for others,
they are to be saved as it pleaseth God); but
others that can judge at ail must. either choose
their guides, vdio shall judge for tliem (and then
they oftentimes do the v/isest, and always save
themselves a labor, but then tliey choase too) ; or
if they be persons of gi^eater understanding, then
they are to choose for themselves in particular
what the others do in general, and by choosing

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 273

their guide ; and for tliis any man may be better
trusted for himself than any man can be for
another ; for, in this case, his own interest is most
concerned; and ability is not so nrc-jssary as
honesty, which certainly every man w.u oe&t pre-
serve in his own case, and to himself (and, if he
does not, it is he that must smart for it) ; and it is
not required of us not to be in error, but that we
endeavor to avoid it.

2. He that follows his guide so far as his reason
goes along with him; or which is all one, he that
follows his own reason (not guided only by natural
arguments, but by divine revelation, and all other
good means), hath great advantages over him that
gives himself wholly to follow any human guide,
whatsoever; because he follows all their reason and
his own too: he follows tliem till reason leaves
them, or till it seems so to him, which is all one to
his particular ; for, by the confession of all sides, an
erroneous conscience binds him, when a right guide
does not bind him. But he that gives himself up
wholly to a guide, is oftentimes (I mean, if he be a
discerning person) forced to do violence to his own
understanding, and to lose all the benefit of his
own discretion, that he may reconcile his reason
to his guide. And of this we see infinite incon-
veniences in the church of Rome; for we find
persons of great understanding oftentimes so
amused with the authority of their church, that it
is pity to see them sweat in ansv/erino; some objec-
tions, which they know not how to do, but y&t
believe they must, because the church hath said it.
So that if they read, study, pray, search records,
and use all the means of art and industry in the
pursuit of truth, it is not with resolution to follow
that which shall seem truth to them, but to confirm

274 THE SAflRED CLASSICS.

what beiore they ditl believe ; and if any argument
shall seem unanswerable against any article of
their church, they arc to take it for a temptation, not
for an illumination, and they are to use it accord-
ingly ; which makes them make the devil to be the
author of that which God's Spirit hath assisted them
to find, in the use of lawful means, and the search
oftruth; and when the devil of falsehood is like to be
cast out by God's Spirit, they say that it is through
Belzebub, which was one of the worst thino-s that
ever die Pharisees said or did. And was it not a plain
stifling of the just and reasonable demands made
by the emperor, by the kings of France and Spain,
and by the ablest divines among them, which was
used in the council of Trent, when they demanded
the restitution of priests to their liberty of marriage,
the use of the chalice, the service in the vulgar
tongue ; and these things not only in pursuance of
truth, but for other great and good ends, even to
take away an infinite scandal, and a great schism ?
x\nd yet, when they themselves did profess it, all
the world knew these reasonable demands were
denied merely upon a politic consideration ; yet
that these things should be framed into articles
and decrees of faith, and they for ever after bound
not only not to desire the same things, but to think
the contrary to be divine truths, never was reason
tnademore a slave, or more useless. Must not all
the world say, either they must be great hypocrites

or do great violence to their understanding, when
they not only cease from their claim, but must also
believe it to be unjust? If the use of their reason
had not been r-estrained by tlie tyranny and impe-
iiousness of their guide, what the emperor, and the
kings, and their theologues would have done, they
can best judge who consider the reasonableness of

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 275

the demand, and the unreasonableness of tlie
denial. Bu^ we see many wise men, who, with
their optandum esset ut ccchbia lluntiam daret*
^x., proclaim to all the world, that in some things
they consent, and do not heartily believe what they
are bound publicly to profess; and they themselves
would clearly see a difference, if a contrary decree
should be framed by the church ; they would, with
an inlinite greater confidence, rest themselves in-
other propositions than what they must believe as-
the case now stands ; and they v. ould find that the-
authority of a church is a prejudice as often as a
free and modest use of reason is a temptation.

3. God will have no man pressed with another's
inconveniences in matters spiritual and intellectual
—no man's salvation to depend upoa another;,
and every tooth that eats sour grapes shall bf, set
on edge for itself, and for ncme else; and this is
remarkable in that saying of God bv the prophet:
'If the prophet ceases to tell my people of their
sins, and leads them into error,\he people shall
die in their sins, and the blood of them I will re-
quire at the hands of that prophet.*! Meanino;^
that God hath so set the prophets to guide us ; that
we also are to follow them by a voluntary assent^
by an act of choice and election. For, althou^'h
accidentally and occasionally tlie sheep may peri'sh
by the shepherd's fault, yet that which liath the
chiefest influence upon their final condition, is
their own act and election; and therefore God
hath so appointed guides to us, that if we perish
It may be accounted upon both our scores, upon
our own and the guides' too; which says plainly,
that although we are intrusted to our guides, yet

* "It were to be wished, that the church allowed. Sec "
t Ezek. xxxiii.

276 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

we are intrusted to ourselves too. Our guides
must direct us; and yet, if they fail, God hath not
so left us to them, but he hath given us enough to
ourselves to discover their failings, and our own
duties in all things necessary ; and for other things
we must do as well as we can. But it is best to
follow our guides, if we know nothing better ; but
if we do, it is better to follow the pillar of fire, than
a pillar of cloud, though botli possibly may lead to
Canaan : but then, also, it is possible that it may be
otherwise. But I am sure, if I do my own best ;
then, if it be best to follow a guide, and if it be
also necessary, I shall be sure, by God's grace and
my own endeavor, to get to it ; but if I, without
the particular engagement of my understanding
follow a guide, possibly I may be guilty of extreme
nrgli^rcnce, or I may extinguish God's Spirit, or do
violence to my own reason. And whether intrust-
ing myself wholly with another be not a laying up
my talent in a napkin, I am not so well assured : I
am certain the other is not. And since another
man's answering for me will not hinder, but that I
also shall answer for myself ; as it concerns him to
see he does not willfully mis.'i:uide me, so it concerns
me to see that he shall not, if I can help it; if lean-
not, it will not be recjuired at my hands : whether
it be his fault or his invincible error, I shall be
charged with neither.

'4. This is no other than what is enjoined as a
duty. For since God will be justified with a free
obedience — and there is an obedience of under-
standing as well as of will and affection — it is of
great concernment, as to be M'iliing to believe
whatever God says, so also to inquire diligently
whether the will of God be so as it is pretended.
Even our acts of underitandin^ are acts of choice ;

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 277

and therefore it is commanded, as a duty, to
* search the Scriptures, to try the spirits, whether
thev be of God or no, of ourselves to be able to
judge what is right, to prove all things, and to
retain that which is best.'^ For he that resolves
not to consider, resolves not to be careful whether
he have truth or no, and therefore hath an affection
indifferent to truth or falsehood, which is all one as
if he did choose amiss; and since, when thing-s
are truly propounded and made reasonable and
intelligible, we cannot but assent, and then it is
no thanks to us ; we have no way to give our wills
to God in matters of belief, but l3y our industry in
searching it, and examining the grounds upon
which tlie propounders build their dictates. And
the not doing it, is oftentimes a cause that God
gives a man over a; vow itoociiucy, into a reprobate
and undiscerning mind and understanding.

5. And this very thing (though men will not
understand it) is the perpetual practice of all men
in the world, that can give a reasonable account
of their faith. The \evy Catholic church itself
is rationabilis et ubiq. diffusa, saitli Optatus, 'rea-
sonable, as well as diffused every where." For,
take the proselytes of the church of Rome — even
in their greatest submission of understanding, they
seem to themselves to follow their reason most of
all : for if you tell them. Scripture and tradition
are their rules to follow, they will believe you
when they know a reason for it ; and if they take
you upon your word, they have a reason for that
too ; either they believe you a learned man, or a
good man, or that you can have no ends upon
them, or something that is of an equal height to

* Matt. XV. 10 ; John, v. 40 ; 1 John, iv. 1 ; Ephes. v. !7,
Luke, xxiv. 23 ; Rom. iii. 11, i. 28 ; Apoc. ii. 2 ; Acts. x\Ti. 11.
24

278 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

fit their understandings. If jou tell them thej
must believe the church, you must tell them why
thej are bound to it; and if you quote Scripture
to prove it, you must give them leave to judge
whether the words alleged speak your sense or no,
and therefore to dissent if they say no such thing ;
and althoug]\ all men are not wise, and proceed
discreetly, yet all make their choice some way or
other. He that chooses to please his fancy, takes
his choice as much as he that chooses prudently.
And no man speaks more unreasonably than he
that denies to men the use of their reason in
choice of their religion : fur that I may, by the
way, remove the common prejudice, reason an<l
authority are not things incompetent or repi!j>nant,
especially when the authority is infallible and su-
preme ; for there is no greater reason in the world
than to believe such an authority. But then wc
must consider, whether every authority that pre-
tends to be such, is so indeed ; and therefore, Jjcii.s
dixit, ergo hoc verum est, •' God hath said it, theic-
fore it is true," is the greatest demonstration in the
world for things of this nature. But it is not so
in human dictates; and yet reason and human
authority are not enemies: for it is a good argu-
mentwfor us to follow such an opinion, because it
is made sacred by the authority of councils and
ecclesiastical tradition, and sometimes it is the
best reason we have in a question, and then it is
to be strictly followed ; but there may also be, at
other times, a reason greater than it that speaks
against it, and then the authority must not carry
it. But then the difference is not between reason
and authority, but between this reason and that,
which is greater; for authority is a very good
reason, and is to prevail, unless a stronger comes

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIN'G. 279

and disarms it, but then it must give place. So that
in this question, bj reason, 1 do not mean a distinct
topic, but a transcendent that runs through all
topics ; fur reason, like logic, is instrument of all
things else : and when revelation, and philosophy,
and public experience, and all other grounds of
probability or demonstration, have supplied us with
matter, then reason does but make use of them :
that is, in plain terms, there being so many ways
of arguing so many sects, such diftering interests,
such variety of authority, so many pretences, and
so many false beliefs, it concerns every wise man
to consider which is the best argument, which
proposition relies upon the truest grounds: and if
this were not his only way, why do men dispute
and urge arguments, why do they cite councils
and fathers, why do they allege Scripture and tra-
dition, and all this on all sides, and to contrary
purposes ? If we must judge, then we must use
our reason ; if we must not judge, why do they
produce evidence ? Let them leave disputing, and
decree propositions magisterially : but then we
may choose whether we will believe them or no ;
or, if they say we must believe them, they must
prove it, and tell us why. And all these disputes
concerning tradition, councils, fathers, &c., are
not arguments against or besides reason, but con-
testations and pretences to the best arguments,
and the most certain satisfaction of our reason.
But then all these coming into question, submit
themselves to reason : that is, to be judged by
human understanding, upon the best grounds and
information it can receive. So that Scripture,
tradition, councils, and fathers, are the evidence
in a question, but reaapn is the judge ; that is, we
being the persons that are to be persuaded, we

280 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

must see that we be persuaded reasonably. And
it is unreasonable to assent to a lesser evidence,
when a greater and clearer is propounded ; but of
that every man for himself is to take cognizance,
if he be able to judge; if he be not, he is not
bound under the tie of necessity to know any
thing of it That tliat is necessary shall be cer-
tainly conveyed to him : God, that best can, will
certainly take care for that; for if he does not, it
becomes to be not necessary ; or, if it should still
remain necessary, and he damned for not knowing
it, and yet to know it be not in his power, then
who can help it? there can be no further care in
this business. In other things, there being no
absolute and prime necessity, we are left to our
liberty to judge that way that makes best demon-
stration of our piety, and of our love to God and
truth ; not that way that is always the best argu-
ment of an excellent understanding, for this may
be a blessing, but tlie other only is a duty.

And now that we are pitched upon that way
which is most natural and reasonable in determi-
nation of ourselves, rather than of questions,
which are often indeterminable, since right reason
proceeding upon the best grounds it can, viz. of
divine revelation and human authority and proba-
bility, is our guide : and supposing the assistance
of God's Spirit (which he never denies them that
fail not of their duty in all such things in which
he requires truth and certainty), it remains t!iat
we consider how it comes to pass that men are so
much deceived in the use of their reason and
choice of their religion ; and that, in this account,
we distinguish those accidents which make error
innocent, from those which make it become a
heresy.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 281

SECTION XI.

Of some Causes of Error in the exerche of Reason
which are exculpate in themselves.

1 . Then I consider that there are a great man j
inculpable causes of error, which are arguments of
human imperfections, not convictions of a sin.
And first, the variety of human understandings
is so great, that wliut is plain and apparent to
one, is difficult and obscure to another; one \\*ill
observe a consequent from a common principle,
and another from thence will conclude the quite
contrary. When St. Peter saw the vision of the
sheet let down, with all sorts of beasts in it, and a
voice, saying, ' Rise, Peter, kill and eat,' if he had
not, by a particular assistance, been directed to the
meaning of the Holy Ghost, possibly he might
have had other apprehensions of the meaning of
that vision ; for to myself it seems naturally to
speak nothing but the abolition of the Mosaical
rites, and the restitution of us to that part of Chris-
tian liberty which consists in the promiscuous
eating of meats ; and yet, besides this, there want
not some understandings in the world, to whom
these words seem to give St. Peter a power to kill
heretical princes. Methinks it is a strange under-
standing that makes such extractions, but Bozius
and Baronius did so. But men may understand
what they please, especially when they are to ex-
pound oracles. It was an argument of some wit,
but of singularity of understanding, that happened
24*

282 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

in the great contestation between the missals of St.'
Ambrose and St. Gregory. The lot was thrown,
and God made to be judge, so as he was tempted
to a miracle, to answer a question which them-
selves might have ended without much trouble.
The two missals were laid upon the altar, and tlie
church door shut and sealed. Bj the morrow
mattins, thej found St. Gregory's missal torn in
pieces (saith the story), and thrown about the
church, but St. Ambrose's opened and laid upon the
altar in a posture of being read. If I had been to
judge of the meaning of this miracle, I should have
made no scruple to have said, it had been the will
of God that the missal of St. Ambrose, which had
been anciently used, and publicly tried and ap-
proved of, should still be read in the church, and
that of Gregory let alone, it being torn by an
angelic hand, as an argument of its imperfection,
or of the inconvenience of innovation. But yet
they judged it otherwise; for by the tearing and
scattering about, they thought it was meant, it
should be used over all the world, and that of St.
Ambrose read only in the church of Millain. I^^
am more satisfied that the former was the true" ?^
meaning, than I am of the truth of the story ; but
we must suppose that. And now there might
have been eternal disputings about the meaning
of the miracle, and nothing left to determine, -^
when two fancies are the litigants, and the con^j^n
testations about probabilities hinc inde. And I '
doubt not this was one cause of so great variety
of opinions in the primitive church, when they n^
proved their several opinions, which were myste- ' '
rious questions of Christian theology, by testimo-f q
nies out of the obscurer prophets, out of thd'^q
Psalms and Canticles, as who please to observe**^

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 283

their arguments of discourse and actions of council
shall perceive they very much used to do. Now
although men's understandings be not equal, and
that it is fit the best understandings should
prevail, yet that will not satisfy the weaker
understandings ; because all men will not think
that another understanding is better than his own;
or, at least, not in buch a particular in which, with
fancy, he hath pleased himself. But commonly
they that are least able are most bold, and the
more ignorant are ihe more confident : therefore
it is but necessary, ii" he would have another bear
with him, he also should bear with another; and
if he will not be prescribed to, neither let him
prescribe to others. And there is the more reason
in this, because such modesty is commonly to be
desired of the more imperfect ; for wise men know
the ground of their persuasion, and have their
confidence proportionable to their evidence ; others
have not, but overact their trifles : and therefore
I said, it is but a reasonable demand, that they
ihat have the least reason should not be most im-
perious ; and for others, it being reasonable enough,
for all their great advantages upon other men, they
will be soon persuaded to it; for although wise
men might be bolder, in respect of the persons
of others less discerning, yet they know there are
but few things so certain as to create much bold-
ness and confidence of assertion. If they do not,
they are not the men I take them for.

2. When an action or opinion is commenced
\f\ih. zeal and piety, against a knov/n vice, or a
vicious person, commonly all the mistakes of its
proceeding are made sacred by the holiness of the
principle, and so abuses the persuasions of good
people, that they make it as a characteristic note

284 THE SACRED C7.ASSI0S.

to distinguish good persons from bad ; and tlien,
whatever error is consecrated by this means, is
therefore made tlie more lasting, because it is ac-
counted holy; and the persons are not easily
accounted heretics, because they erred upon a
pious principle. There is a memorable instance
in one of the greatest questions of Christendom,
viz. concerning images. For when Philippicus
had espied the images of the six first synods upon
the front of a church, he caused them to be pulled
down : now he did it in hatred of the sixth synod ;
for he, being a Monolhelite, stood condemned by
that synod. The catliolics that were zealous for
the sixtii synod, caused the images and represent-
ments to be put up again ; and then sprung the
question concerning the lawfulness of images in
churches.* Philippicus and his party strived, by
suppressing images, to do disparagement to the
sixth synod ; the catholics, to preserve the honor
of the sixth synod, would uphold images. And
then the question came to be changed, and they
who were easy enough to be persuaded to pull
down images, were overawed by a prejudice
against the Monothelites; and the Monothelites
strived to maintain the advantage they had got, by
a just and pious pretence against images. The
Monothelites would have secured their error by
the advantage and consociation of a truth ; and
the other would rather defend a dubious and
disputable error, than lose and let go a certain
truth. And thus the case stood, and the suc-
cessors of both parts were led invincibly : for
when the heresy of the Monothelites disbanded
(which it did in a while after), yet the opinion of
the Iconoclasts, and the question of images grew
* Vid. Paulum Diaconum,

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIXG. 285

stronger. Yet, since the Iconoclasts, at the first
were heretics, not for their breakins; images, but
for denying the two wills of Clirist, his divine and
his human; — that they were called Iconoclasts
was to distinguish their opinion in the question
concerning the images; — but that then Iconoclasts
iio easily had the reputation of heretics, was be-
cause of the other opinion, which was conjunct in
their persons ; which opinion men afterwards did
not easily distinguish in them, but took them for
heretics in gross, and whatsoever they held to be
heretical. And thus, upon this prejudice, grew
great advantages to the veneration of images ; and
the persons at first were much to be excused, be-
cause they were misguided by that which might
have abused the best men. And if Epiphanius,
who was as zealous against images in churches as
Philippicus or Leo Isaurus, had but begun a public
contestation, and engaged emperors to !i:'"e made
decrees against them, Christendom would have
had other apprehensions of it than they had when
the Monothelites began it : for few men will endure
a truth from the mouth of the devil, and if the
person be suspected, so arc his ways too. And
it is a great subtlety of the devil so to temper
truth and falsehood in the same person, that truth
may lose much of its reputation by its mixture
with error, and t!\e error may become more
plausible by reason of its conjunction with truth.
And this we see by too much experience; for we
see many truths are blasted in their reputation,
because persons whom we think we hate, upon
just grounds of religion, have tau2;ht them. And
it was plain enough in the case of Maldonat,^ that
said of an explication of a place of Scripture, that
*■ In cap. 6, Johan.

28G THE SACKED CLASSICS.

it was most agreeable to antiquity, but because
Calvin had so expounded it he therefore chose a
new one : this was malice. But when a prejudice
works tacitly, undiscerniblj, and irresistibly, of
the person so wrought upon, the man is to be
pitied, not condemned, though possibly his opinion
deserves it highly. And therefore it hath been
usual to discredit doctrines by the personal de-
failances of them that preach them, or with tlire
disreputation of that sect that maintains them,
in conjunction with other perverse doctrines.
Faustus,* the Manichee, in St. Austin, glories
much that in their religion God was worshiped
purely,.and without images. St. Austin liked it
well, for so it was in his too; but from hence,
Sanders concludes, that to pull down images in
churches was the heresy of the Manichees. The
Jews endure no images, therefore Bellarmine makes
it to be a piece of Judaism to oppose them.t He
might as well have concluded against saying our
prayers, and church music, that it is Judaical be-
cause the Jews used it. And he would be loth
to be served so himself; for he that had a mind to
use such arguments might, with much better
probability, conclude against their sacrament of
extreme unction ; because, when the miraculous
healing was ceased, then they were not catholics
but heretics that did transfer it to the use of dying
persons, says Irenaeus ;t for so did the Valenti-
nians: and, indeed, this argument is something
better than I thought for at first, because it was
in Iren^eus's time reckoned among the heresies.

* Lib. XX. c. 3, Cont. Faustum Man. Lib. i. c. ult. de
Imas^in.

t De Reliq. SS. lib. ii. c. G, Sect. Nicolaus.
JLib, i. c. 8, Adv. Hu^r.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 287

But there are a sort of men that are even with
them, and hate some siood things which the church
of Home teaches, because she who teaches so
many errors, hath been the publisher, and is the
practiser of those things. I confess the thing is
always unreasonable, but sometimes it is invinci-
ble and innocent; and then may serve to abate
the fury of all such decretory sentences as con-
demn all the world but their own disciples.

3. Tliere are some opinions that have gone
hand in hand with a blessing, and a prosperous
profession ; and the good success of their defenders
hatli amused many good people, because they
tiiought they heard God's voice where they saw
God's hand ; and therefore have rushed upon such
opiiiions Avith great piety, and as great mistaking.
For where they once had entertained a fear of
God, and apprehension of his so sensible declai'a-
tio-.}, such a fear produces scruple; and a scrupu-
lous conscience is always to be pitied, because,
ths^uj^h it is seldom wise, it is alwavs pious. And
this very thing hath prevailed so far upon the
understandings, even of wise men, th.at Bcllarmine
makes it a note of the true church : wiiich opinion,
v.licn it prevails, is a ready way to make that,
inst^;id of martyrs, all men should prove heretics
or apostates in persecution ; for since men in
misery are very suspicious, out of strong desires
to find out tiic cause, that by removing it they
may be relieved, they apprehend that to be it that
is first presented to their fears ; and then, if ever
truth be afflicted, she shall also be destroyed. I
will say nothing in defiance of this fancy, although
all the experience in the world says it is false ;
and that, of all men, christians should least believe
it to be true, to whom a perpetnal cross is their

288 THE SACRED CLASSICS,

certain expectation (and the argument is like the
moon, for which no garment can be fit; it alters
according to the success of human affairs, and in
one age will serve a papist, and in another a pro-
testant) ; yet, when such an opinion does prevail
upon timorous persons, the malignity of their error
(if any be consequent to tliis fancy, and taken up
upon the reputation of a prosperous heresy) is not
to be considered simply and nakedly, but abate-
ment is to be made in a just proportion to tliat
fear, and to that apprehension.

4. Education is so great and so invincible a pre-"
judice, that he who masters the inconvenience of
it is more to be commended than he can justly be
blamed that complies with it. For men do not
always call them principles which are the prime
fountains of reason, from whence such consequents
naturally flow, as are to guide the actions and dis-
courses of men: but they are principles which
they are first taught, which they sucked in next to
their milk; aiul, by a proportion to those first
principles, they usually take their estimate of
propositions. For whatsoever is taught to them
at first they believe infinitely, for they know no-
thing to the contrary: they have had no other
masters whose theorems might abate the strength of
their first persuasions. And it is a great advantage
in those cases to get possession ; and before their
first principles can be dislodged, they are made
habitual and complexional ; it is in their nature
then to believe them, and this is helped forward
very much by the advantage of love and veneration
which we have to the first parents of our persua-
sions ; and we see it in the orders of regulars in
the church of Rome. That opinion vvhich was the
opinion of their patron or founder, or of some

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. i289

eminent personage of the institute, is enough to
engage all the order to be of th.at opinion ; and it
is strange that all the Dominicans shall be of one
opinion in the matter of predetermination and
immaculate conception, and all the Franciscans
of the quite contrary ; as if their understandings
were formed in a difterent mould, and furnished
with various principles by their \ery rule. Now
this prejudice works bv many principles ; but how
strongly they do possess the understanding, is
visible in that great instance of the affection and
perfect persuasion the weaker sort of people
liave to that which they call the religion of their
forefathers.* You may as well cliarm a fever
asleep with the noise of bells, as make any pre-
tence of reason against that religion Vvhich old men
have entailed upon their heirs male so many gene-
rations till they can prescribe. And the apostles
found this to be most true in the extremest diiH-
culty they met with, to contest against the rites of
Moses, and the long superstition of the Gentiles,
which they therefore thought fit to be retained,
because they had done so formerly; 'proceeding
as things were or had been, not as they ought to
be,'t and all the blessings of this life which God
gave them, they had in conjunction with their re-
ligion, and therefore they believed it was for their
religion, and this persuasion was bound fast in
them with ribs of iron ; the apostles were forced
to unloose the whole conjuncture of parts and
principles in their understandings, before they
could make them malleable and receptive of any

* " Optima rati ea qaze magno assensu recepta sunt, quo-
rumq. exempla raulta sunt ; nee ad rationem, sed ad simili-
tudinem vivimus." — Sen. Vid. J^tlinut. Fel. octav.

t Pergentes non quo eundurn est, sed quo itur.
25

£90 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

impresses : but the observation and experience of
all wise men can justify this truth. All that I
shall say to the present purpose is this, that con-
sideration is to be had to the weakness of persons
when thej are prevailed upon by so innocent a
prejudice; and, when there cannot be arguments
strong enough to overmaster an habitual persua-
sion, bred with a man, nourished up with him, that
always eat at his table, and lay in his bosom, he is
not easily to be called heretic ; for, if he keeps the
foundation of faith, other articles are not so clearly
demonstrated on either side but that a man may
innocently be abused to the contrary. And there-
fore, in this case, to handle him charitably, is but
to do him justice ; and when an opinion in mino-
ribus articidis, " in points of inferior moment," is
entertained upon the title and stock of education,
it may be the better permitted to him, since upon
no better stock nor stronger arguments, most
men entertain their whole religion, even Chris-
tianity itself.

5. There are some persons of a differing persua-
sion, who, therefore, are the rather to be tolerated,
because the indirect practices and impostures of
their adversaries have confirmed them, that those
opinions which they disavow are not from God, as
being upheld by means not of God's appointment,
for it is no unreasonable discourse to say, that God
will not be served with a lie, for he does not need
one, and he hath means enough to support all those
truths which he hath commanded ; and hath sup-
plied every honest cause with enough for its mainte-
nance and to contest against its adversaries. And
(but that they which use indirect arts will not be
willing to lose any of their unjust advantages, nor
yet be charitable to those persons whom either to

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 291

gain or to undo they leave nothing unattempted)
the church of Rome hath much reason not to be so
decretory in her sentences against persons of a dif-
fering persuasion ; for if their cause were entirely
the cause of God, they have given wise people
reason to suspect it, because some of them have
gone to the devil to defend it. And if it be re-
membered what tragedies were stirred up against
Lutlier, for saying the devil had taught him au
argument against the mass, it will be of as great
advantage against them that they go to the devil for
many arguments to support not only the mass, but
the other distinguishing articles of their church ; I
instance in the notorious forging of miracles, and
framing of false and ridiculous legends. For the
former, I need no other instances than wliat hap-
pened in the great contestation about the immacu-
late conception, when there were miracles brought
on both sides to prove the contradictory parts ;
and though it be more than probable that both sides
played the jugglers, yet the Dominicans had the
ill luck to be discovered, and the actors burned at
Berne. But this discovery happened by Provi-
dence ; for the Dominican opinion hath more de-
grees of probability than the Franciscan, is clearly
more consonant both to Scripture and all antiquity,
and this part of it is acknowledged by the greatest
patrons themselves, as Salmeron,Posa, and Wad-
ding; yet because they played the knaves in a just
question, and used false arts to maintain a true
proposition, God Almighty, to show that he will
not be served by a lie, was pleased ratlier to dis-
cover the imposture in the right opinion than in
the false ; since nothing is more dishonorable to
God than to oft'er a sin in sacrifice to him, and
ziothing more incongruous in the nature of the

292 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

thing, than that truth and falsehood should sup-
port each other, or that true doctrine sliould live at
the charges of a lie. And he that considers the
arguments for each opinion, will easily conclude,
that if God would not have truth confirmed by a
lie, much less would lie himself attest a lie with a
true miracle. And by this ground it will easily
follow, tha.t the Franciscan party although they
had better luck than the Dominicans, yet had not
more honesty, because their cause was worse, and
therefore their arguments no whit the better.
And although the argument drawn from miracles
is good to attest a holy doctrine, which by its own
wordi will support itself, after way is a littk
made by miracles ; yet of itself, and by its own
reputation, it will not support any fabric: for
instead of proving a doctrine to be true, it makes
that the miracles themselves are suspected to.bd
illusions, if they be pretended in behalf of a doc-
trine which we think we have reason to account
false. And therefore the Jews did not believe
Christ's doctrine for his miracles, but disbelieved
the truth of his miracles because they did not likfe
his doctrine. And if tiie holiness of his doctrine,
and the Spirit of God by inspirations and infusions,
and by that which St. Pv^ter calls ' a surer word of
prophecy,' had not attested the divinity both of
his person and his office, we should have wanted
many degrees of confidence which now we have
upon the truth of Christian religion.* But now,
since we are foretold by this surer word of pro-
phecy, that is, the prediction of Jesus Christ, that
Antichrist should come in all wonders and signs,
and lying miracles ; and that the church saw much

* Vide Baron. A. D. 6S, n. 22.-Philostrat, lib. iv. t. 485-
Compend. Cedren, p. 202.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 293

of that already verified in Simon Magus Apollo -
nius Tjanaeus, and Manetlio, and divers heretics ;*
it is now come to that pass, that the argument, in
its best advantage, proves nothing so much as that
the doctrine which it pretends to prove is to be
suspected, because it was foretold that false doc-
trine should be obtruded under such pretences. But
then, Vvhen not only true miracles are an insuffi-
cient argument to prove a truth, since the esta-
blishment of Christianity, but that the miracles
themselves are false and spurious ; it makes that
doctrine in whose defence they come, justly to be
suspected, because they are a demonstration that
the interested persons use all means, leave nothing
unattempted, to prove their propositions ; but
since they so fail as to bring nothing from God, but
something from the devil for its justification, it is
a great sign that the doctrine is false, because we
know the devil, unless it be against his will, does
nothing to prove a true proposition that makes
against him. And now, then, those persons who
will endure no man of another opinion, might do
well to remember how, by their exorcisms, their
devil's tricks at Lou dun, and the other side pre-
tending to cure mad folks and persons bewitched,
and the many discoveries of their juggling, they
have given so much reason to their adversaries to
suspect their doctrine, that either they must not
be ready to condemn their persons who are made
suspicious by their indirect proceeding, in attest-
ation of that which they value so high as to call
their religion, or else they must condemn them-
selves for making the scandal active and effectual.
As for false legends, it will be of the same
consideration, because they are false testimonies

* Stapelton, Prompt. Moral, pars iE3tiva,p. 672.
25*

294 THE SACRED CLASSICS,

of miracles that were never done ; which differ*i
only from the other, as a lie in words frooi a lie
in action. But of this we have witness enough in
that decree of pope Leo X, session the eleventh
of the last Lateran council, where he excommuni-
cates all the forgers and inventors of visions and
false miracles, which is a testimony that it was
then a practice so public as to need a law for its
suppression ; and if any man shall doubt whether
it were so or no, let him see the Centum Grava-
mina of the princes of Germany, where it is high-
ly complained of. But the extreme stupidity and
sottishness of the inventors of lying stories is so
great, as to give occasion to some persons to
suspect the truth of all clmrch story ;''^ v/itncss the
I^egend of Lombardy, of the author of which the
bishop of the Canaries gives this testimony : " You
will oftener read in this book monstrous prodigies
than real miracles ; he who wrote it was a sham(i-
less and dull fellow, and far enough from being
of a serious and judicious mind."t But, I need
not descend so low; for St. Gregory and V. Bede V
themselves reported miracles, for the atliority of ^3
which they only had the report of the common?; fit
people ;t- and it is not certain tliat St. Jerome hadYj)
so much in his stories of St. Paul and St. Aif- r'l
thony, and the fauns and the satyrs which appeared
to them, and desired their prayers.§ But I shall
only, by way of eminency, note what Sir Thomas
More says, in his epistle to Ruthal, the king's
secretary, before the dialogue of Lucian (Philop-

* let yctp y,)i g/p^sv* iicCict^o/uivci, Kdci to. ctQiAa-rco? zipyi/nivit.
vTroTTTivio-Biti 7ra.pAa-x.iv^ii(r{v. — Isid. Pelus.

t *' In illo enim libro miraculorum monstra saepius quam
vera miracula legas. Hanc homo scripsit ferrei oris, plumbei
cordis, animi certe parum severi et prudentis.'*

J Vide lib. xi. loc. Theol. cap. 6. § Canus, ibid.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 295

seudes) ; that, therefore, he undertook the transla-
tion of that dialogue, to free the v/orld from a
superstition that crept in under the face and title
of religion. For such lies, says he, are transmitted
to us with such authority, that a certain impostor
had persuaded St. Austin, that the very fable
which Lucian scoffs, and makes sport withal in
that dialogue,* was a real story, and acted in his
own days. The epistle is worth the reading to
this purpose : but, he says, this abuse grew to such
a height, that scarce any life of any saint or
martyr is truly related, but is full of lies and
lying wonders; and some persons thought they
served God, if they did honor to God's saints by
inventing some prodigious story or miracle for
their reputation. So that now it is no wonder,
if the most pious men are apt to believe, and the
greatest historians are easy enough to report such
stories, which, serving to a good end, are also
consigned by the report of persons otherwise pious
and prudent enough. I will not instance in
Vincentius liis Specuhmiy Turonensis, Thomas
Cantipratanus, John Herolt, Vitx Patrum,] nor
the revelations of St. Bridget, tliough confirmed
by two popes, Martin V, and Boniface IX : even
the best and most deliberate amongst them, Lip-
poman, Surius, Lipsius, Bzovius, and Baronius,
are so full of fables, that they cause great disrepu-
tation to the other monuments and records of
antiquity, and yet do no advantage to the cause
under which they serve and take pay. They do
no good, and much hurt; but yet, accidentally,

* Viz. De duobus spurinis, altero decedente, altero in vitam
redeunte post \nginti dies ; quam in aliis nominibus ridet Lu-
cianus. Vide etiam argumentum Gilberti Cognati, in Annotat
in nunc Dialog.

t Vide Palaeot. de Sacra Sindone, part i. Epist. ad Lector

296 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

they may procure this advantage to charity, since
they do none to faith; that, since they have so
abused the credit of story, that our confidences
want much of that support we should receive from
her records of antiquity, yet the men that dissent
and are scandalized by such proceedings should
be excused, if they should chance to be afraid of
truth that hath put on garments of imposture ; and,
since much violence is done to the truth and
certainty of their judging, let none be done to
their liberty of judging: since they cannot meet
a right guide, let them have a charitable judge.
And, since it is one very great argument against
Simon Magus and ags-inst Mahomet, that we can
prove their miracles to be impostures, it is much
to be pitied if timorous and suspicious persons
shall invincibly and honestly less apprehend a
truth which they see conveyed by such a testi-
mony, which we all use as an argument to reprove
the Mahometan superstition.

6. Here also comes in all the weaknesses and
trifling prejudices which operate not by their own
strength, but by advantage taken from the weak-
ness of some understandings. Some men by a
proverb or a common saying, are determined to
the belief of a proposition, for which they have no
argument better than such a proverbial sentence.
And when divers of the common people in Jeru-
salem were ready to yield their understandings to
the belief of the Messias, they were turned clearly
from their apprehensions by that proverb, " Look
and see, does any good thing come from Galilee ?"
and this ;*' When Christ comes, no man knows
from whence he is ;*' but this man was known of
what parents, of what city. And thus the weak-
ness of their understanding was abused, and that

THE LIBERTY OF TROPHESYING. 297

made the argument too hard for them. And the
whole seventh chapter of St. Jolui's Gospel is a
perpetual instance of the efficacy of such trifling
prejudices, and the vanity and weakness of popu-
lar understandings. Some whole ages have been
abused bj a definition, which, being once received,
as most commonly they are, upon slight grounds,
they are taken for certainties in any science re-
spectively, and for principles; and upon their
reputation men use to frame conclusions, M'hich
must be false or uncertain, according as the defi-
nitions are. And he that hath observed any thing
of the vv'eaknesses of men, and the successions of
groundless doctrines from age to age, and how
seldom decnitions whicii are put into systems, or
that derive from the fatliers, or approved among
school-men, are examined by persons of the same
interests, will bear me witness, how many great
inconveniences press hard upon the persuasions
of men, who are abused, and yet never consider
who hurt them.. Others, and they very many, are
led by authority, or examples of princes, and
great personages : " Have any of the rulers be-
lieved on him ?"* Some, by the reputation of one
learned man, are carried into any persuasion
whatsoever. And, in the middle and latter ages
of the church, this was the more considerable, be-
cause the infinite ignorance of the clerks and the
men of the long robe, gave them over to be led bj-
those few guides which were marked to them by
an eminency, much more than their ordinary;
which also did the more amuse them, because
most commonly they were fit for nothing but to
admire what they understood not; their learning
then was in some skill in the master of the sen-
* John, vii.

298. THE SACRED CLASSICS.

tences, in Aquinas or Scotus, whom they admired
next to the most intelligent order of angels.
Hence came opinions that made sects and division
of names — Thomists, Scotists, Albert! sts, Nomi-
nals, Reals, and I know not what monsters of
names; and whole families of the same opinion,
the whole institute of an order being engaged to
believe according to the opinion of some leading
man of the same order ; as if such an opinion were
imposed upon them as a proof of holy obedience.
But this inconvenience is greater when the prin-
ciple of the mistake runs higher, when the opinion
is derived from a primitive man and a saint ; for
then it often happens, that wliat at first was but
a plain, innocent seduction, comes to be mfide
sacred by the veneration which is consequent to
the person, for having lived long agonc ; and then,
because the person is also since canonized, the
error is almost made eternal, and the cure despe-
rate. These, and the like prejudices, which are
as various as the miseries of humanity, or the
variety of human understandings, are not absolute
excuses, unless to some persons ; but truly, if they
be to any, they are exemptions to all, from being
pressed with too peremptory a sentence against
them ; especially if we consider wiiat leave is
given to all men, by the church of Rome, to follow
any one probable doctor, in an opinion which is
contested against by many more. And as for the
doctors of the other side, they being destitute of
any pretences to ail infallible medium to deter-
mine questions, must, of necessity, allow the same
liberty to tiie people, to be as prudent as they can
in the choice of a fallible guide ; and when they
have chosen, if they do follow him into error, the
matter is not so inexpiable for being deceived in

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 299

using the best guides we had, which guides, be-
cause themselves were abused, did also, against
their wills, deceive me : so that this prejudice may
the easier abuse us, because it is almost like a
duty to follow the dictates of a probable doctor;
or, if it be over acted, or accidentally pass into
an inconvenience, it is therefore to be excused,
because the principle was not ill, unless we judge
by our event, not by the antecedent probability.
Of such men as these it was said by St. Austin,
*' The common sort of people are safe, in their not
inquiring by their own industry, and, in the sim-
plicity of their understanding, relying upon the
best guides they can get." •"

But this is of such a nature, in which, as we
may inculpably be deceived, so we may turn it
into a vice or a design, and then the consequent
errors will alter the property, and become heresies.
There are some men that have men's persons in
admiration, because of advantage ; and some that
have itching ears, and licap up teachers to them-
selves. In these and the like cases, the authority
of a person, and the prejudices of a great reputa-
tion, is not the excuse but the fault : and a sin is
so far from excusing an error, that error becomes
a sin by reason of its relation to that sin, as to its
parent and principle.

* " Caeteram tiirbara non intelligendi vivacitas, sed cre-
dendi simplicitas tutissimam facit." — Contr. Fund. cap. 4.
And Gregory Nazianzen, 24'^a ttokksmic tcv xctcv to o-Qacto.^
V/TT3V. — Orat. xxi.

300 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

sSECTION XII,

Of the Innocency of Error in Ojylnion^ in a ^nous
Person.

And, therefore, as there are so many innocent
causes of error as there are weaknesses within,
and harmless and unavoidable prejudices froi^
without, so, if ever error be procured by a vice, it
hatl) no excuse, but becomes such a crime, of so
much malignity, as to have influence upon the
effect and consequent, and, by communication,
makes it become criminal. The apostles noted
two such causes, covetousness and ambition ; the
former in them of the circumcision, and the latter,
in Diotrephcs and Simon Magus ; and there were
some that were " led av/ay by divers lusts :"*^
they were of the long robe too ; but they were t!ie
she disciples, upon whose consciences some false
apostles had influence, by advantage of their
wantonness; and thus the three principles of all
sin become also the principles of heresy— the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the prijfie of
•life. And in pursuance of these arts, t'.ie devil
hath not wanted fuel to set awork incendiaries, in
all ages of the church. Thejiishops were always
honorable, and, most commonly, had great reve-
nues, and a bishopric would satisfy the two de^
signs of covetousness and ambition ; and this hath
been the golden apple very often contended for,
and very often the cause of great fires in the
church. " Thebulis created great disturbances

* 2 Tim. iii.

THE LIBERTY 0¥ PROPHESYING. 301

in the church, because he could not obtain the
bishopric of Jerusalem," said Egesippus, in Euse-
bius. Tertullian turned Montauist, in discontent
for missing the bishopric of Carthage, after Agrip-
pinus; and so did Montanus himself, for the same
discontent, saith Nicephorus. Novatus would
have been bishop of Rome ; Donatus, of Carthage ;
Arius, of Alexandria ; Aerius, of Sebastia : but
they all missed, and therefore all of them vexed
Christendom. And this was so common a thing,
that oftentimes the threatening the church v/ith
a schism, or a heresy, was a design to get a
bishopric : and Socrates reports of Asterius, that
he did frequent the conventicles of the Arians,
*'for he aimed at some bishopric." And setting
aside the infirmities of men, and their innocent
prejudices, Epiphanius makes pride to be the
only cause of heresies : vCoi; met Trpr.icpmc, pride and
prejudice cause them all, the one criminally, the
other innocently. And, indeed, St. Paul does
almost make pride the only cause of heresies ; his
words cannot be expounded, unless it be at least
the principal : *' If any man teach otherwise and
consent not to sound words, and to the doctrine
that is according to godliness, he is proud, know-
ing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings,
evil surmisings." ••

The sum is this ; if ever an opinion be begun
with pride, or managed with impiety, or ends in a
crime, the man turns heretic : but let the error be
never so great, so it be not against an article of
creed, if it be simple, and hath no confederation
with the personal iniquity of the man, the opinion
is as innocent as the person, though, perhaps a&

♦ 1 Tim. vi. 3, 4.
26

302 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

false as he is ignorant; and therefore shall burn,
though he himself escape. But in these cases,
and many more (for the causes of deception in-
crease by all accidents, and weaknesses, and illu-
sions), no man can give certain judgment upon
the persons of men in particular, unless the matter
of fact and crime be accident and notorious. The
man cannot, by human judgment, be concluded a
heretic unless his opinion be an open recession
from plain, demonstrative, divine authority (which
must needs be notorious, voluntary, vincible,
and criminal), or that there be a palpable serving
of an end, accidental and extrinsical to the
opinion.

But this latter is very hard to be discerned;
because those accidental and adherent crimes
which make the man a heretic, in questions not
simply fundamental or of necessary practice, are
actions so internal and spiritual, that cognizance
can but seldom be taken of them. 'And therefore,
to instance, though the opinion of purgatory be
false, yet to believe it cannot be heresy, if a man
be abused into thel!)elief of it invincibly: because
it is not a doctrine either fundamentally false or
practically impious, it neither proceed's from the
will, nor hath any immediate or direct influence
upon choice and manners. And as for those
other ends of upholding that opinion, which
possibly its patrons may have ; as for the reputa-
tion of their church's infallibility, for the advan-
tage of dirges, requiems, masses, monthly minds,
anniversaries, and other offices for tlie dead, which
usually are very profitable, rich, and easy, these
things may possibly have sole influences upon
their understanding, but whether they have or no
God only knows. If the proposition and article

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 303

were true, these ends might justly be subordinate,
and consistent with a true proposition. And
there are some truths that are also profitable ; as
the necessity of maintenance to the clergy, the
doctrine of restitution, giving alms, lending freely,
remitting debts in cases of great necessity ; and
it would be but an ill argument that the preachers
of these doctrines speak false, because, possibly,
in these articles, they may serve their own ends.
For although Demetrius and the craftsmen were
without excuse for resisting the preacliing of St.
Paul, because it was notorious they resisted the
truth upon ground of profit and personal emolu-
ments, and the matter was confessed by them-
selves; yet, if the clergy should maintain their
just rights and revenues, which by pious dedica-
tions and donatives were long since ascertained
upon them, is it to be presumed, in order of law
and charity, that this end is in the men subordi-
nate to truth, because it is so in the thing itself,
and that therefore no judgment, in prejudice
of these truths, can be made from that observa-
tion?

But if in any other way we are ascertained of
the truth or falsehood of a proposition respectively,
yet the judgment of the personal ends of the men
cannot ordinarily be certain and judicial, because,
most commonly, the acts are private and the
purposes internal, and temporal ends may some-
tipies consist v/ith truth ; and whether the pur-
poses of the men make these ends principal or
subordinate, no man can judge ; and be they how
they will, yet they do not always prove tliat when
they are conjunct widi error, tlie error was caused
by these purposes and criminal intentions.

But in questions practical, the doctrine itself,

304 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

and the person too, may with more ease be re-
proved, because matter of fact being evident, and
nothing being so certain as the experiments of
human aifairs, and these being the immediate
consequents of such doctrines, are with some
more certainty of observation redargued, than the
speculative ; whose judgment of itself more diffi-
cult, more remote from matter and human observ-
ation, and with less curiosity and expiicitness
declared in Scripture, ;is being of less conse-
quence and concernment, in the order of God's
and man's great end. In other things, which end
in notion and ineffective contemplation, where
neither the doctrine is malicious, nor the person
apparently criminal, he is to be left to the judg-
ment of God: and as there is no certainty of
human judicature in this case, so it is to no
purpose it should be judged. For if the person
may be innocent with his error, and there is no
rule whereby he can certainly be pronounced that
he is actually criminal (as it happens in matters
speculative), since the end of the commandment
is love out of a * pure conscience and faith un-
feigned;' and the commandment may obtain its
end in a consistence with this simple speculative
error ; why should men trouble themselves with
such opinions, so as to disturb the public charity
or the private confidence? Opinions and per-
sons are just so to be judged as other matters
and persons criminal; for no man can judge any
thing else; it must be a crime, and it must be
open, so as to take cognizance, and make true
human judgment of it. And this is all I am to
say concerning the causes of heresies, and of the
distinguishing rules for guiding of our judgment
towards others.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. S05

As for guiding our judgments, and the use of
our reason in judging for ourselves, all that is to
be said is reducible to this one proposition. Since
errors are then made sins when they are contrary
to charity, or inconsistent with a good life and the
honor of God, that judgment is the truest, or, at
least, that opinion most innocent, that, first, best
promotes the reputation of God's glory, and, se-
condly, is the best instrument of holy life. For in
questions and interpretations of dispute, these two
analogies are the best to make propositions, and
conjectures, and determinations. Diligence and
care in obtaining the best guides, and the most
convenient assistances, prayer, and modesty of
spirit, simplicity of purposes and intentions, liu-
inility and aptness to learn, and a peaceable dis-
position, are therefore necessary to finding out
truths, because they are parts of good life, w-ithout
which our truths will do us but little advantage,
and our errors can have no excuse ; but with these
dispositions, as he is sure to fi.nd out all that is
necessary, so what truth he inculpably misses of,
he is sure is therefore not necessary, because he
could not find it when he did his best and his most
innocent endeavors. And this I say to secure the
persons, because no rule can antecedently secure
the proposition in matters disputable. For even
in the proportions and explications of this rule,
there is infinite variety of disputes; and when the
dispute is concerning free will, one party denies
it, because he believes it magnifies the grace of
God, that it works irresistibly ; the other affirms,
because he believes it engages us upon greater care
and piety of our endeavors. The one opinion
thinks God reaps the glory of our good actions,
Ihe other thinks it charges our bad actions upon
26*

306 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

him. So in the question of merit, one part chooses
his assertion, because he thinks it encourages iis
to do good works : the other believes it makes us
proud, and therefore he rejects it. The first
believes it increases piety, the second believes it
increases spiritual presumption and vanity. The
first thinks it magnifies God's justice, tlie other
thinks it derogates fruni his mercy. Now tlien,
since neither this, nor any ground can secure a
man from possibility of mistaking, we were in-
finitely miserable if it would not secure lis from
punishment, so long as we willingly consent not to
a crime, and do our best endeavor to avoid an
error. Only by the way, let me observe, that since
there are such great differences of apprehension
concerning the consequents of an article, no man
is to be charged with the odious consequences of
his opinion. Indeed, his doctrine is, but the per-
son is not, if he understands not such things to be
consequent to liis doctrine : for if he did, and then
avows ihem, they are his direct opinions, and he
stands as chargeable v/ith them as with his first
propositions; but if he disavows them, he v/ould
certainly rather quit his own opinion than avow
such errors or impieties, which are pretended to be
consequent to it ; because every man knows that
can be no truth, from whence falsehood naturally
and immediately does derive; and he therefore
believes his first propositions, because he believes
it innocent of such errors as are charged upon it,
directly or consequently.

So that now, since no error, neither for itself,
nor its consequents, is to be charged as criminal
upon a pious person, since no simple error is a sin,
nor does condemn us before the throne of God,
nince he is so pitiful to our crimes, that he pardons

THE LIBERTY QF PROPHESYING. 307

many de ioto et mtegro, in all makes abatement for
the violence ot temptation, and the surprisal and
invasion of our faculties, and, therefore, much less
will demand of us an account for our v.eaknesses :
and since the strongest understanding cannot
pretend to such an immunity and exemption from
the condition of men, as not to be deceived and
confess its weakness; it remains, we inquire what
deportment is to be used towards persons of a
differing persuasion, when v/e are (I do not say
doubtful of a proposition, but) convinced that he
that differs from us is in error ; for this was the
first intention and the last end of this discourse.

308 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SECTION XIII.

Of the Deportment to he used toioards persons dis-
agreeing, and the Reasons why they are not to be
punished with Deaths c^-c.

For although every man may be deceived, yti
some are right and may know it too, for every man
that may err does not therefore certainly err ; and
if he errs because he recedes from his rule, then if
he follows it he may do right; and if ever any man
upon just grounds did change his opinion, then he
was in the right and was sure of it too ; and, al-
though confidence is mistaken for a just persuasion
many times, yet some men are confident, and have
reason so to be. Now wh^n this happens, the
question is, what deportment they are to use
towards persons that disagree from them, and by
consequence are in error.

1. Then no Christian is to be put to death, dis-
membered, or otherwise directly persecuted for his
opinion, which does not teach impiety or blasphe-
my. If it plainly and apparently brings in a crime,
and himself does act it or encourage it, then the
matter of fact is punishable according to its pro-
portion or malignity; as, if he preaches ts'eason or
sedition, his opinion is not his excuse, because it
brings in a crime, and a man is never the less
traitor because he believes it lawful to commit
treason ; and a man is a murderer if he kills his
brother unjustly, although he thinks he does God
good service in it. Matters if fact are equally

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 309

judicable, whether the principle of them be from
within or from without; and if a man could pretend
to innocence in being seditious, blasphemous, or
perjured, by persuading himself it is lawful, there
were as great a gate opened to all iniquity as will
entertain all the pretences, the designs, the im-
postures, and disguises of the world. And there-
fore God hath taken order, that all rules concern-
ing matters of fact and good life shall be so clearly
explicated that, without the crime of the man, he
cannot be ignorant of all his practical duty. And
therefore the apostles and primitive doctors made
no scruple of condemning such persons for heretics
that did dogmatise a sin. He that teacheth others
to sin is worse than he that commits the crime,
whether he be tempted by his own interest, or
encouraged by the other's doctrine. It was as
bad in Basilides to teach it to be lawful to renounce
faith and religion, and take all manner of oaths
and covenants in time of persecution, as if himself
had done so ; nay, it is as much worse, as the
mischief is more universal,' or as a fountain is
greater than a drop of water taken from it. He
that writes treason in a book, or preaches sedition
in a pulpit, and persuades it to the people, is the
greatest traitor and incendiary, and his opinion
there is the fountain of a sin ; and therefore could
not be entertained in his understanding upon
weakness, or inculpable or innocent prejudice: he
cannot, from Scripture or divine revelation, have
any pretence to color that so fairly as to seduce
either a wise or an honest man. If it rests there
and goes no further, it is not cognizable, and so
scapes that way ; but if it be published, and comes^ ,
a stylo ad machaerum (as TertuUian's phrase is),
**from the pen to the sword,*- then it becomes

310 THE SACRED CLASSICS,

matter of fact in principle and in persuasion, and
is just so punishable as is the crime that it
persuades. Such were they of whom St. Paul
complains,* who brought in damnable doctrines
and lusts. St. Paul's, ' I would thev were even cut
off,' is just of them; take it in any sense of rigor
and severity, so it be proportionable to the crime,
or criminal doctrine. Such were those of whom
God spake in Deut. xiii.: 'If any prophet tempts
to idolatry, saying, Let us go after other gods, he
shall be slain.' But these do not come into this
question. But the proposition is to be understood
xioncerning questions disputable as. matter of opi-
nion, which also, for all that law of killing, such
false prophets were permitted with impunity in the
synagogue, as appears beyond exception in the
great divisions and disputes between the Pharisees
and tlie Sadducees. I deny not, but certain and
known idolatry, or any other sort of practical im-
piety ,with its principiant doctrine, may be punislied
corporally, because it is no other but matter of fact:
but no matter of mere opinion, no errors that of
themselves are not sins, are to be persecuted, or
punished by death, or corporal inflictions. This
is now to be proved.

2. All the former discourse is sufficient argu
ment how easy it is for us, in such matters, to be
deceived. So long as Christian religion was a
simple profession of the articles of belief, and a
hearty prosecution of the rules of good life, the
fewness of the articles and the clearness of the
rule was cause of the seldom prevarication. But
when divinity is swelled up to so great a body,
when the several questions, which the peevishness
and wantonness of sixteen ages have commenced^

* Gal. V.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 311

are concentered into one, and from all these ques-
tions something is drawn into the body of theology
till it hath ascended up to the greatness of a moun-
tain, and the sum of divinity collected by Aquinas
malves a volume as great as was that of Livy,
mocked at in the epigram,

" Quern mea vix totum bibliotheca capita — "*

it is impossible for any industry to consider so
many particulars, in the infinite numbers of ques-
tions as are necessary to be considered before we
can with certainty determine any. And after all
the considerations which we can have in a whole
age, we are not sure not to be deceived. The
obscurity of some questions, the nicety of some
articles, the intricacy of some revelations, the
variety of human understandings, the windings of
logic, the tricks of adversaries, the subtlety of
sophisters, the engagement of education, personal
aSections, the portentous number of writers, the
infinity of authorities, the vastness of some argu-
ments, as consisting in enumeration of many par-
ticulars, the uncertainty of- others, tiie several
degrees of probability, tiie difficulties of Scripture,
the invalidity of probation of tradition, the oppo-
sition of all exterior arguments to each other, and
their open contestation, the public violence done
to authors and records, the private arts and
supplantings, the falsifyings, the indefatigable in-
dustry of some men to abuse all understandings
and all persuasions into their own opinions, —
these, and thousands more, even all the difficulty
of things, and all the weaknesses of man, and all
the arts of the devil, have made it impossible for
any man, in so great variety of matter, not to be
* "A work which shelves like mine can scarce contain."

312 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

deceived. No man pretends to it but the pope,
and no man is more deceived than he is in that
very particular.

3. From hence proceeds a danger which is con-
sequent to this proceeding ; for if we, who are so
apt to be deceived and so insecure in our resolu-
tion of questions disputable, should persecute a
disagreeing person, we are not sure we do not
fight against God ; for if his proposition be true and
persecuted, then, because all truth derives from
God, this proceeding is against God ; and therefore
this is not to be done, upon Gamaliel's ground,
lest peradventure we be found to fight against
God, of which because we can have no security
(at least) in this case, we have all the guilt of a
doubtful or an uncertain conscience. For if there be
no security in the thing, as I have largely proved,
the conscience, in such cases, is as uncertain as
the question is : and if it be not doubtful where it
is uncertain, it is because the man is not wise, but
as confident as ignorant ; the first without reason,
and the second without excuse. And it is very
disproportionable for a man to persecute another
certainly, for a proposition that, if he were wise,, he
would know is not certain, at least the other per-
son may innocently be uncertain of it. If he be
killed he is certainly killed ; but if he be called
heretic it is not so certain that he is an heretic. It
were good, therefore, that proceedings were ac-
cording to evidence, and the rivers not swell over
the banks, nor a certain definitive sentence of
death passed upon such persuasions which cannot
certainly be defined. And this argument is of so
much the more force because we see that the
greatest persecutions that ever have been were
against truth, even against Christianity itself; and

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. fil3

it was a prediction of our blessed Savior, that
persecution should be the lot of true believers :
and if we compute the experience of suftering
Christendom, and the prediction, that truth should
suffer, with those few instances of suffering he-
retics, it is odds but persecution is on the wrong
side, and that it is error and heresy tliat is cruel
and tyrannical, especially since the truth of Jesus
Christ, and of his religion, are so meek, so chari-
table, and so merciful. And we may, in this case,
exactly use the words of St. Paul : ' But as then,
he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him
that was born after the spirit ; even so it is now;'
and so it ever will be till Christ's second coming.

4. Whoever persecutes a disagreeing person,
arms all the world against himself^ * and all pious
people of his own persuasion, when the scales of
authority returns to his adversary and attest his
contradictory: and then what can he ui'ge for
mercy for himself, or his party, that showcth none
to others? If he says, that he is to be spared
because he believes true, but the other was justly
persecuted because he was in error, he is ridicu-
lous; for he is as confidently believed to be a
heretic as he believes his adversary such ; and
whether he be or no, being the thing in question,
of this he is not to be his own judge : but he that
hath authority on his side will be sure to judge
against him. So that what either side can indif-
ferently make use of, it is good that neither would,
because neither side can, with reason sufficient,
do it in prejudice of the other. If a man will

* " Quo comperto illi in ncstram perniciem licentiore auda-
tia grassabuntur." — St. Aug. Epist. ad Donat. Procons. et
Contr. ep Fund. " Ita nunc debeo sustinere et tanta patieutia
vobiscum agere quanta mecum egerunt proximi mei cum in
ve:^tro dogmate rabiosus ac ccecus errarem."
27

314 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

say tliat every man must take his adventure, and
if it happens authority to be with him, he will
persecute his adversaries ; and if it trims against
him he will bear it as v/ell as he can, and hope
for a reward of martyrdom and innocent suffering ;
besides that this is so equal to be said of all
sides ; besides that this is a way to make an
eternal disunion of hearts and charities, and that
it will make Christendom nothing but a shambles^
and a perpetual butchery ; and as fast as men's
wits grow^ wanton, or confident, or proud, or
abused, so often there v^all be new executions and
massacres : — besides all this, it is most unreason-
able and unjust, as being contrarient to those laws
of justice and charity, whereby we are bound with
greater zeal to spare and preserve an innocent
than to condemn a guilty person ; and there is less
malice and iniquity in sparing the guilty than in
condemning the good; because it is in the power
of men to remit a guilty person to divine judica-
ture, and for divers causes not to use severity, but
in no case is it lawful, neither hath God at all given
to man a power as to condemn such persons, as
cannot be proved other than pious and innocent;
and therefore it is ijetter if it should so happen, that
we should spare the innocent person and one that
is actually deceived, than that, upon the turn of the
wheel, the true believers should be destroyed.

And this very reason he that had authority suf-
ficient and absolute to make laws, was pleased to
urge as a reasonable inducement for the establish--
ing of that law which he made for the indemnity
of erring persons. It was in the parable of the
tares mingled with the good seed, in the Lord's
field; the good seed (Christ himself being the
interpreter) are the children of the kingdom, the

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 315

tares are the children of t]\e wicked one ; upon
this comes the precept, ' Gather not the tares by
themselves, but let them both grow together till the
harvest,' that is, till the day of judgment. This
parable hath been tortured infinitely to make it
confess its meaning, but we shall soon despatch it.
All the difficulty and variety of exposition is
reducible to these two questions : what is meant
by gather not, and what by tares ? That is, what
kind of sword is forbidden, and what kind of
persons are to be tolerated ? The former is clear
for the spiritual sword is not forbidden to be used
to any sort of criminals, for that would destroy
the power of excommunication : the prohibition
therefore lies against the use of the temporal
sword in cutting off some persons ; who they are
is the next difficulty. But by tares, or the chil-
dren of the wicked one, are meant, either persons
of ill lives, wicked persons only in re practica
(in conduct) ; or else another kind of evil persons,
men criminal or faulty in re intellectuali (in un-
derstanding). One or other of these two must be
meant — a third I know not. But the former
cannot be meant, because it would destroy all
bodies politic, which cannot consist without Jaws,
nor laws without a compulsory and a power of the
sword; therefore, if criminals were to be let
alone till the day of judgment, bodies politic must
stand or fall ad arbitrium impiorum, " according
to the pleasure of evil men ;" and nothing good
could be protected, not innocence itself; nothing
could be secured but violence and tyranny. It
follows then, that since a kind of persons which
are indeed faulty are to be tolerated, it must be
meant of persons faulty in another kind, in which
the Gospel had not, in other places, clearly esta-

316 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

blished a power externally compulsory ; and
therefore, since in all actions practically criminal
a power of the sword is permitted, here, where it
is denied, must mean a crime of another kind,
and by consequence, errors intellectual, commonly
called heresy.

And, after all this, the reason there given con-
firms this interpretation,* for therefore it is 'for-
bidden to cut oft' these tares, lest we also pull up
the wheat with them, which is the sum of these
two last arguments. For, because heresy is of
so nice consideration and difficult sentence, in
thinking to root up heresies we may, by our
mistakes,! destroy true doctrine : which although
it be possible to be done, in all cases of practical
question, by mistake, yet because external actions
are more discernible than inward speculations and
opinions, innocent persons are not so easily mis-
taken for the guilty, in actions criminal as in
matters of inward persuasion. And upon that
very reason St. Martin was zealous to have pro-
cured a revocation of a commission granted to
several tribunes, to make inquiry in Spain for
sects and opinions; for under color of rooting out
the Priscillianists there was much mischief done,
and more likely to happen to the orthodox : for it
happened then, as oftentimes since, "a heretic was
sometimes discovered rather by his pallid coun-
tenance and his dress than by his creed."J They
were no good inquisitors of heretical pravity, so

" Vide St. Chrysost. Horn, xlvii. in cap. 13, Matt, et St
August. Quaest. in cap. 13, Matt. St. Cyprian. Ep, lib. iii.
Ep. 1. Theophyl. in 13, Matt.

t S. Hieron.in cap. 13, Matt, ait, " Per banc parabolam
significari, ne in rebus dubiis ))raeceps fiat judicium."

I " Pallore potius et veste quam fide haereticus dijudicari
sobat aliquando per tribunes Maxiini."

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 31f

Sulpitius witnesses. But, secondly, the reason
says, that therefore these persons are so to be
permitted as not to be persecuted, lest, when a
revolution of human affairs sets contrary opinions
in the throne or chair, they who were persecuted
before should now themselves become persecutors
of others, and so, at one time or other, before or
after, the wheat be rooted up, and the truth be
persecuted. But as these reasons confirm the law
and this sense of it, so, abstrr.cting from the law,
it is of itself concluding by an argument ab in-
commodo (from inconvenience), and that founded
upon tha principles of justice and right reason, as
I formerly alleged.

5. We are not only uncertain of finding out
truths in matters disputable, but we are certain
that the best and ablest doctors of Christendom*
have been actually deceived in matters of great
concernment; which thing is evident in all those
instances of persons from whose doctrines all sorts
of Christians respectively take liberty to dissent.
The errors of Papias, Irenasus, Lactantius, Justin
Martyr, in the millenary opinion ; of St. Cyprian,
Firmilian, the Asian and African fathers, in the
question of rebaptization ; St. Austin, in his decre-
tory and uncharitable sentence against the unbap-
tized children of Christian parents ; the Roman or
the Greek doctors, in the question of the proces-
sion of the Holy Ghost, and in the matter of
images, are examples beyond exception. ''The

* "Illi in vos saeviant, qui nesciuut cum quo labore verum
inveniatur, et quam difficile caveantur erroT-es. Illi in vos
saeviant, qui nesciuntquam rarum et arduum sit carnalia phan-
tasmata pioe mentis serenitate superare. Illi in vos saeviant,
qui nesciunt quibus et suspiriis et geraitibus fiat ut ex quan-
tulacunque parte possit intelligi Deus. Postremo illi in vos
o&vvsaA, qui nullo tali errore decepti sunt, quali vos deceptos
vident." — St. Auguet. Contr. Ep. Fund.
27*

318 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

errors that attach to the minds of men are number-.
less."* Now, if these great personages had beeii' ^''
persecuted or destroyed for their opinions, Avho
should have answered the invaluable loss the
church of God should have sustained in missing
so excellent, so exemplary, and so great lights P
But, then, if these persons erred, and by conse-
quence might have been destroyed, what should
have become of others whose understanding was
lower, and their security less, their errors more,
and their danger greater ? At this rate, all men
should have passed through the lire; for who can
escape when St. Cyprian and St. Austin cannot r
Now, to say these persons were not to be perse-
cuted because, although they had errors, yet none
condemned by the church at that time or before,
is to say nothing to the purpose, nor nothing that
is true. Not true, because St. Cyprian's error was
condemned by pope Stephen, which, in the present
sense of the prevailing party in the churcli of
Rome, is to be condemned by the church. Not to
the purpose, because it is nothing else but to say
that the church did tolerate their errors ; for since
those opinions vv'ere open and manifest to the world,
that the church did not condemn them, it was eithei
because those opinions were by the church not
thought to be errors, or if they were, yet she thought
fit to tolerate the error and the erring person :
And if she would do so still, it would in most
cases be better than now it is. And yet, if the
church had condemned them, it had not altered the
case as to this question ; for either the persons, upon
the colidemnation of their error, should have been
persecuted or not. If not, why shall they now,

* "A/A<pl eT' '(tU^ffarTfWV iflfH^lV '' AfXTTK^XKinl ''siVAfilb'/U.ilTOl H.(iifJt.:iVTitt.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 519

against the instance and precedent of those ages
who were confessedly wise and pious, and whose
practices are often made to us arguments to follow ?
If yea, and that thej had been persecuted, it is
the thing which this argument condemns, and the
loss of the church had been invaluable in the losing
or the provocation and temptation of such rare per-
sonages ; and the example and the rule of so ill
consequence, that all persons might, upon the
same ground, have suffered ; and though some had
escaped, yet no man could have any more security
from punishment than from error.

6. Either the disagreeing person is in error or
not, but a true believer ; in either of the cases, to
persecute him is extremely imprudent. For if he
be a true believer, then it is a clear case that we do
open violence to God, and his servants, and his
truth. If he be in error, what greater folly and
stupidity tlian to give to error the glory of mar-
tyrdom, and the advantages which are accidentally
consequent to a persecution ? For as it was true
of the martyrs, Quotics morimur toties nascimur^*
and the increase of their trouble was the increase
of their confidence and the establishment of their
persuasions, so it is in all false opinions ; for that
an opinion is true or false, is extrinsical or acci-
dental to the consequents and advantages it gets
by being afflicted. And there is a popular pity
that follows all persons in misery, and that com-
passion breeds likeness of affections, and that very
often produces likeness of persuasion ; and so much
the rather, because there arises a jealousy and
pregnant suspicion that tliey who persecute an
opinion are destitute of sufficient arguments to

* "As often as we die, so ol'ten do we begin to live."

S20 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

confute it, and that the hangman is the best dis-
putant. For if those arguments which they have
for their own doctrine were a sufficient ground of
confidence and persuasion, men would be more
willing to use those means which are better com-
pliances with human understanding, which more
naturally do satisfy it, whicli are more human and
Christian than that way which satisfies none, which
destroys many, which provokes more, which makes
all men jealous. To which add, that those who die
for their opinion leave in all men great arguments
of the heartiness of their bel ief, of the confidence of
their persuasion, of the piety and innocency of
their persons, of the purity of their intention, and
simplicity of purposes ; that they are persons to-
tally disinterested and separate from design. For
no interest can be so great as to be put in balance
against a man's life and his soul, and he does very
imprudently serve his ends who seeingly and fore-
knowingly loses his life in the prosecution of them.
Just as if Titius should offer to die for Sempronius,
upon condition lie miglit receive twenty talents
when he had done his work. It is certaiiily an ar-
gument of a great love, and a great confidence,
and a great sincerity, and a great hope, when a
man lays down his life in attestation of a proposi-
tion. *' Greater love than this hath no man, than
to lay down his life," saith our blessed Savior.
And although laying of a wager is an argument of
confidence more than truth, yet laying such a
wager, staking of a man's soul, and pawning his
life, gives a hearty testimony that the person is
honest, confident, resigned, charitable, and noble.
And I know not whether truth can do a person or
a cause more advantages than these can do to an
error. And therefore, besides the impiety, there

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 521

is great imprudence in canonizing a heretic and
consecrating an error by such means, which were
better preserved as encouragements of truth and
comforts to real and true martyrs. And it is not
amiss to observe, that tliis very advantage was
taken by heretics, who were ready to show and
boast their catalogues of martyrs : in particular,
the Circumcellians did so, and the Donatists; and
yet the first were heretics, the second schismatics.
And it was remarkable in the scholars of Priscil-
lian, who, as they had their master in the reputa-
tion of a saint while he was living, so when he was
dead they had him in veneration as a martyr ;
they with reverence and devotion carried his, and
the bodies of his slain companions, to an honorable
sepulchre, and counted it religion to swear by the
name of Priscillian. So that the extinguishino: of
the person gives life and credit to his doctrine, and
when he is dead he yet speaks more effectually.

7. It is unnatural and unreasonable to persecute
disagreeing opinions. Unnatural ; for understand-
ing— being a thing wholly spiritual — cannot be
restrained, and therefore neither punished by cor-
poral afflictions. It is in aliena repiiblica, a matter
of another world : you may as well cure the colic
by brushing a man's clothes, or fill a man's belly
with a syllogism : these things do not communicate
in matter, and therefore neither in action nor pas-
sion; and since all punishments, in a prudent
government, punish the offender to prevent a
future crime, and so it proves more medicinal
than vindictive, the punitive act being in order to
the cure and prevention ; and since no punishment
of the body can cure a disease in the soul, it is
disproportionate in nature ; and in all civil govern-
ment, to punish where the punishment can do no

322 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

good, it may be an act of tyranny, but never of
justice. For is an opinion ever the more true or
false for being persecuted ? Some men have be-
lieved it the more, as being provoked into a confi-
dence and vexed into a resolution ; but the thing
itself is not the truer ; and though the hangman
may confute a man with an inexplicable dilemma,
yet not convince his understanding ; for such pre-
mises can infer no conclusion but that of a man's
life; and a wolf may as well give laws to the
understanding as he whose dictates are only pro-
pounded in violence and writ in blood. And a dog-
is as capable of a law as a man, if there be no
choice in his obedience, nor discourse in his choice,
nor reason to satisfy his discourse. And as it is
unnatural, so it is unreasonable that Sempronius
should force Caius to be of his opinion, because
Sempronius is consul this year, and commands the
Lictors ; as if he that can kill a man cannot but
be infallible; and if he be not, why shorld I do
violence to my conscience because he can do vio-
lence to my person ?

8. Force in matters of opinion can do no good,
but is very apt to do hurt ; for no man can change
his opinion when he will, or be satisfied in his
reason that his opiiiion is false because discounte-
nanced. If a man could change his opinion when
he lists, he might cure many inconveniences of
his life : all his fears and his sorrows would soon
disband, if he would but alter his opinion, v/hereby
he is persuaded that such an accident that afflicts
him is an evil, and such an object formidable; let
him but believe himself impregnable, or that he
receives a benefit when he is plundered, disgraced,
imprisoned, condemned, and afflicted, neither his
sleeps need to be disturbed, nor his quietness

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 3:23

discomposed. But if a man cannot change his
opinion when he lists, nor ever does heartily or
resoliitelv but when he cannot do otherwise, dien
tause force may make him an hypocrite but never
to be a right believer; and so, instead of erecting
a trophy to God and true religion, we build a
monument for the devil. Infinite examples are
recorded in church story to this very purpose ; but
Socrates instances in one for all ; for when Eleu-
sius, bishop of Cyzicum, was threatened by the
emperor Valens with banishment and confiscation
if he did not subscribe to the decree of Ariminum,
at last he yielded to the Arian opinion, and pre-
sently fell into great torment of conscience, openly
at Cyzicum recanted the error, asked God and
the church forgiveness, and complained of the
emperor's injustice, and that was all the good the
Arian party got by oftering violence to his con-
science. And so many families in Spain, which
are, as they call them, new Christians, and of a
suspected faith, into which they were forced by
the tyrannj'- of the Inquisition, and yet are secret
Moors, is evidence enough of the inconvenience
of preaching a doctrine in m ore gladii cruentandu
at the point of the sword. For it either punishes
a man for keeping a good conscience or forces
him into a bad ; it either punishes sincerity or
persuades hypocrisy; it persecutes a truth or
drives into error ; and it teaches a man to dis-
semble and to be safe, but never to be honest.

9. It is one of the glories of Christian religion,
that it was so pious, excellent, miraculous, and
persuasive, that it came in upon its own piety and
wisdom, with no other force but a torrent of argu-
ments, and demonstration of the Spirit ; a mighty
rushing wind to beat down all strong holds, and

3£4 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

every high thought and imagination ; but towards
the persons of men it was always full of meekness
and charity, compliance and toleration, conde-
scension and bearing with one another/' restoring
persons overtaken with an error, in the spirit of
meekness, considering lest we also be tempted."
'The consideration is as prudent and the proposition
as just as the precept is charitable and the prece-
dent was pious and holy. Now, things are best con-
served with that which gives it the first being, and
which is agreeable to its temper and constitution.
That precept which it chiefly preaches, in order
to all the blessedness in the wor-ld, that is, of
meekness, mercy, and charity, should also preserve
itself, and promote its own interest. For, indeed,
nothing vvill do it so well; nothing doth so excel-
lently insinuate itself into the understandings and
affections of men, as when the actions and per-
suasions of a sect, and every part and principle
and promotion are univocal. And it would be a
mighty disparagement to so glorious an institution,
that in its principle it should be merciful and
humane, and in the promotion and propagation of
it so inhuman ; and it would be improbable and
unreasonable that the sword should be used in the
persuasion of one proposition, and yet, in the
persuasion of the whole religion, nothing like it.
To do so may serve the end of a temporal prince,
but never promote the honor of Christ's kingdom;
it may secure a design of Spain, -but will very
much deserve Christendom, to offer to support it
by that which good men believe to be a distinctive
cognizance of the Mahometan religion from the
excellency and piety of Christianity, whose sense
and spirit is described in those excellent words of
St. Paul, 2 Tim. ii. 24 : ^ The servant of the Lord

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 325

must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, in
meekness instructing those that oppose themselves,
if God peradventure will give them repentance to
the acknowledging the truth.' Thej that oppose
themselves must not be stricken by any of God's
servants ; and, if yet any man will smite these
who are his opposites in opinion, he will get
nothing by tliat ; he must quit the title of being a
servant of God for his pains. And I think a dis-
tinction of persons secular and ecclesiastical will
do no advantage for an escape; because even the
secular power, if it be Christian and a servant of
God, must not be *a striker; the senant of the
Lord must not strive.' I mean in those cases
where meekness of instruction is the remedy, or
if the case be irremediable, abscission by censures
is the penalty.

10. And if yet in the nature of the thing it
were neither unjust nor unreasonable, yet there is
nothing under God Almighty that hath power over
the soul of man so as to command a persuasion,
or to judge a disagreeing. Human positive laws
direct all external acts in order to several ends,
and the judges take cognizance accordingly ; but
no man can command the will, or punish him that
obeys the law against his will : for, because its
end is served in external obedience, it neither
looks after more, neither can it be served by more,
nor take notice of any more. And yet, possibly,
the understanding is less subject to human power
than the will, for the human power hath a command
over external acts, which naturally and regularly
flow from the will ; and at most, suppose a direct
act of will, but always either a direct or indirect
volition, primary or accidental; but the ui/
standing is a natural faculty, subject to u(y
28

526 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

mantl but where the command is itself a reason
fit to satisfy and persuade it. And therefore God
commanding us to believe such revelations, per-
suades and satisfies the understanding by his
commanding and revealing : for there is no greater
probation in the world that a proposition is true,
than because God hath commanded us to believe
it. But because no man's command, is a satisfac-
tion to the understanding, or a verification of the
proposition, therefore the understanding is not
subject to human autlioritj. They may persuade,
but not enjoin where God hath not; and wherfe
God liath, if it appears so to him, he is an infidel
if he does not believe it. And, if all men have
no other efficacy or authority on the understanding
but by persuasion, proposal, and entreaty, then a
man is bound to assent but according to the
operation of the argument, and the energy of per-
suasion ; neither, indeed, can he, though he would
never so fain; and he that, out of fear and tOb
much compliance and desire to be safe, shall dcsife
to bring his understandinjz; with some luxation to
the belief of human dictates and authorities, m.ay
as often miss of the truth as hit it, but is sur^.
always to lose the comfort of truth, because fie
believes it upon indirect, insufficient, and incom-
petent arguments ; and as his desire it should be
so is his best argument that it is so, so the pleasing
of men is his best reward, and his not being con-
demned and contradicted all the possession of a
truth.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING.

SECTION XIV.

Of the Practice of Christian Churches toivards
Persons disagreeing, and when Persencf ion first
came in.

And thus this truth hath been practised in all
times of christian religion, when there were no
collateral designs on foot, nor interests to be
served, nor passions to be satisfied. In St. Paul's
time, though the censure of heresy were not so
loose and forward as afterwards ; and all that \vere
called heretics were clearly such, and higidy crimi-
nal ; yet as their crime was, so was their censure,
that is, spiritual. They were first admonished,
once at least, for so Irenasus.;-- Tertullian.t Cy-
prian.i Ambrose,§ and Jerome,!! read that place of
Titus iii. But since that time all men, and at that
time some read it, ''after a second admonition"
reject a heretic. Rejection from the communion
of saints, after two v/arnings, that is the penalty.
St, John expresses it by not eating with them, not
bidding them God speed ; but the persons against
whom he decrees so severely, are such as denied
Christ to be come in the flesh, direct antichiists ;
and, let the sentence be as high as it lists, in this
case all that I observe is, that since in so damna-
ble doctrines nothing but spiritual censure, sepa-
ration from the communion of the faithful, was
enjoined and prescribed, we cannot pretend to an

* Lib. iii. c. 3. f De Praescript.

t Tjb. ad Quirinum. § In hunc locurn. || Ibidem.

S28 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

apostolical precedent, if in matters of dispute and
innocent question, and of great uncertainty and
no malignity, we should proceed to sentence of
death.

For it is but an absurd and illiterate arguing,
to say that excommunication is a greater punish-
ment, and killing a less ; and, therefore, whoever
may be excommunicated may also be put to death
(which, indeed, is the reasoning that Bellarmine
uses) ; for, first, excommunication is not directly
and of itself a greater punishment than corporal
death; because it is indefinite and incomplete,
and in order to a further punishment, which, if it
happens, then the excommunication was the inlet
to it; if it does not, the excommunication did not
signify half so much as the loss of a member, much
less death. For it may be totally ineftectual,
either by the iniquity of the proceeding or repent-
ance of the person ; and, in all times and cases, it
is a medicine if the man please ; if he will not, but
perseveres in his impiety, then it is himself that
brings the censure to effect, that actuates the judg-
ment, and gives a sting and an energy upon that
which otherwise would be -j^up cttcupog, " an authority
without force." Secondly, but when it is at worst,
it does not kill the soul, it only consigns it to that
deatli which it had deserved, and should have re-
ceived independently from that sentence of the
church. Thirdly, and yet excommunication is to
admirable purpose ; for whether it refers to the
person censured or to others, it is prudential in
itself, it is exemplary to others, it is medicinal to
all. For the person censured is by this means
threatened into piety, and the threatening made
the more energetical upon him because, by fiction
of law, or as it were, by a sacramental represejit-

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 329

ment, the pains of hell are made presentlal to him ;
and so becomes an act of prudent judicature and
excellent discipline, and the best instrument of
spiritual government: because the nearer the
threatening is reduced to matter, and the more
present and circumstantial it is made, the more
operative it is upon our spirits wliile thev are
immerged in matter. And tliis is the full sense
and povver of excommunication in its direct inten-
tion ; consequently and accidentally other evils
might follow it, as in the times of the apostles the
censured persons were buffeted by Satan; and
even at this day there is less security even to the
temporal condition of such a person whom his
spiritual parents have anathematized. But, be-
sides this, I know no warrant to riffirm any thing
of excommunication, for the sentence of the church
does but declare, not effect the final sentence of
damnation. Whoever deserves excommunication
desen-es damnation ; and he that repents shall be
saved, though he die out of the church's external
communion ; and if he does not repent he shall be
damned, though he was not excommunicate.

But suppose it greater than the sentence of
corporal death, yet it follows not because heretics
may be excommunicate therefore killed; for from
a greater to a less, in a several kind of things, the
argument concludes not. It is a greater thing to
make an excellent discourse than to make a shoe;
yet he that can do the greater cannot do this less.
An angel cannot beget a man, and jet he can do
a greater matter, in that kind of operations which
v/e term spiritual and angelical. And if this were
concluding, that whoever may be excommunicate
may be killed, then, because of excommunications
the church is confessed the sole and entire judge,
28*

330 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

she is also an ^absolute disposer of the lives of
persons. I believe this will be but ill doctrine in
Spain : for in Bulla Ccenx Domhii, the king of
Spain is every year excommunicated on Maunday
Thursday. But if, by the same power, he might
also be put to death (as upon this ground he may),
the pope might, vvith more ease, be invested in
tJiat part of St. Peter's patrimony which that king
hath invaded and surprised. But besides this,. it
were extreme harsh doctrine in a Roman con-
sistory, from whence excommunications issue for
trifles, for fees, for not suffering themselves infi-
nitely to be oppressed, for any thing : if tliis be
greater than death, how great a tyranny is that
which does more than kill men for less than
trifles ; or else how inconsequent is that argument
which concludes its purpose upon so false pretence
and supposition ?

Well, however zealous the apostles wore against
heretics, yet none were by them or their dictates
put to death. The death of Annanias and Sap-
phira, and the blindness of Elymas the sorceier,
amount not to this, for they were miraculous
inflictions; and the first was a punishment to
vow-breach and sacrilege, the second of sorcery
and open contestation against the religion of Jesus
Christ ; neither of them concerned the case of^-
tliis present question. Or if the case were the
same, yet the authority is not tlie same ; for he
that inflicted these punishments was infallible, and
of a power competent ; but no man at this day is
so. But, as yet, people were converted by mira-
cles, and preaching, and disputing -, and heretics,
by the same means, were redargued, and all men
instructed, none tortured for their opinion. And
this continued till Christian people were vexed

THE LIBERTy^ OF PROPHESYING. 331

by disagreeing persons, and were impatient and
peevish, by their own too much confidence, and
the luxuriancy of a prosperous fortune; but
tlien they would not endure persons that did
dogmatize any thing which might intrench upon
their reputation or their interest. And it is ob-
servable, that no man nor no age did ever teacli
the lawfulness of putting heretics to death, till
they grew wanton with prosperity. But when the
reputation of the governors was concerned, when
the interests of men were endangered, when they
had something to lose, when they had built their
estimation upon the credit of disputable questions,
when they began to be jealous of other men, when
they overvalued themselves and their own opinions,
when some persons invaded bishoprics upon pre-
tence of new opinions — then they, as they th lived
in the favor of emperors, and in the success of
their disputes, solicited the temporal power to
banish, to fine, to imprison, and to kill their ad-
versaries.

So that the case stands thus : — In the best times,
amongst the best men, when there were fewer tem-
poral ends to be served, when religion and the
pure and simple designs of Christianity were only
to be promoted ; in those times, and amongst such
men, no persecution was actual, nor persuaded,
nor allowed, towards disagreeing persons. But
as men had ends of their own and not of Christ's,
as they receded from their duty, and religion from
its purity ; as Christianity began to be compounded
with interests, and blended with temporal designs,
so m.en were persecuted for their opinions. This
is most apparent, if we consider when persecution
first came in, and if we observe how it was checked
by the holiest and the wisest persons.

332 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

The first great instance I shall note, was in
Priscillian and his followers, who were condemned
to death by the tyrant Maximus : which instance,
although St. Jerome observes as a punishment and
judgment for the crime of heresy, yet is of no use
in the present question, because Maximus put
some Christians of all sorts to death promiscu-
ously, catholic and heretic, without choice; and
therefore the Priscillianists might as well have
called it a judgment upon the catholics, as the
catholics upon them. ,^,

But when Ursa3us and Statins, two bishops, prQt.
cured the Priscillianists' death, by the power they
had at court, St. Martin was so angry at them for
their cruelty, that he excommunicated them both.,
And St. Ambrose, upon the same stock, denied
his' communion to the Itaciani. And the account
that Sulpitius gives of the story is this: "The
example was worse than the men. If the men
were heretical the execution of them, however,
was unchristian."'*^'

But it was of more authority that tlie Nicene
fathers supplicated the emperor, and prevailed for
the banishment of Arius;t of this we can give no
other account, but that, by the history of the time,
we see baseness enough, and personal misde-
meanor, and factiousness of spirit in Arius to have
<leserved worse than banishment,"]: though the
obliquity of his opinion were not put into the
balance ; which we have reason to believe was not

*■ "Hoc modo homines luce indio^nissimi pessimo exemplo
necati sunt."

I Sozom, lib. i. c. 20.

X Socrat. lib. i. c. 26. cont. Crescon. Graramat, lib. iii.
c. 50. Vide etiam Epist.lxi. ad Dulcilium, et Epist. clviii, et
cxcix. et lib. i. c. 29. cont. tit. Petilian. Vide etiam Socrat.
lib. iii. c. 3, et. 29.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 333

SO much as considered, because Constaiitine gave
toleration to differing opinions, and Arius himself
was restored upon such conditions to his country
and office, which would not stand with the ends
of the catholics, if they had been severe exactors
of concurrence and union of persuasions.

I am still within the scene of ecclesiastical per-
sons, and am considering what the opinions of the
learnedest and the holiest prelates were concern-
ing this great question. If we will believe St.
Austin (who was a credible person), no good man
did allow it. " No good men approve of inflicting
death upon any one, though he be a heretic."*
This was St. Austin's final opinion ; for he had
first been of the mind that it was not honest to do
any violence to mispersuaded persons ; and when,
upon an accitlent happening in Hippo, he had
altered and retracted that part of the opinion, yet,
then also he excepted death, and would by no
means have any mere opinion made capital. But
for aught appears, St. Austin had greater reason
to have retracted that retraction than his first
opinion ; for his saying, of nidlis bonis placet, "■ no
good men approve of it," was as true as the thing
was reasonable it should be so. Witness those
known testimonies of Tertullian,t Cyprian,^ Lac-
tantius,§ Jerome,!| Sulpitius Severus,^ Minutius,**
Hilary ,tt Damascen,£t Chrysostom,§§ Theophy-
lact,l||| and Bernard,^^ and divers others, whom

* " NuUis tamen bonis in catholica hoc placet, si usque ad
mortem in quenquam, licet haereticum, saeviatur." — Lib. ii.
cap. 5. Retractat. Vide Epist. 48, ad Vincent, script, post
Retract, et Epist. 50, ad Bonifac.

t Ad Scapulam. % Lib. iii. Ep. 1. Epist.

^ Lib. V. c. 20. II In cap. 13, Matt, et in cap. 2. Hos.

nr In Vit St. Martin. ** Octav. ft Cent. Auxent. Ait.

XX 3 Sect. c. 32. §§ In cap. 13, Matt. Horn. 47.

Jill In Evang. Matt. HIT In verba Apost. fides ex auditu.

334 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the reader may find quoted by the archbishop of
Spalato.* ^..

Against this concurrent testimony my reading
can furnish me with no adversary nor contrary in-
stances, but in Atticus of Constantinople, Theo-
dosius of Synada, in Statins and Ursaeus, before
reckoned. Only, indeed, some of the later popes
of Rome began to be busy and unmerciful, but it
was then when themselves were secure, and their
interests great, and their temporal concernments
highly considerable.

For it is most true, and not amiss to observe'
it, that no man who was tinder the ferula did ever
think it lawful to have opinions forced, or heretics
put to death; and yet many men, who themselves
have escaped the danger of a pile and a faggot,
have clianged their opinion just as the case was
altered ; that is, as tliemselves were unconcerned
in the suffering. Petilian, Parmenian, and Gau-
dentius,t by no means would allow it lawful, for
themselves v/ere in danger, and were upon that
side that is ill thought of and discountenanced :
but Gregory! and Leo,§ popes of Rome, upon
whose side the authority and advantages were,
thought it lawful they should be punished and
persecuted, for themselves were unconcerned in
the danger of suffering. And therefore St. Gre-
gory commends the exarch of Ravenna, for forcing
them who dissented from those men who called
themselves the churcli. And there were some
divines in the Lower Germany, who, upon great
reasons, spake against the tyranny of the inquisi-

* Lib. viii. de Rep. Eccles. cap. 8.
t Apud. Aug. lib. i. c. 7, cont. Epist. Parmenian. et lib. ii.
c. 10, cont. tit. Petilian.
\ Epist. i. ad Turbiimi. § Lib. i. Ep. 72.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 335

tion, and restraining prophesying, who yet, when
they had shaked off the Spanish yoke, began to
persecute their brethren. It was unjust in them, in
all men unreasonable and uncharitable, and often
increases the error, but never lessens the danger.
But jet, although the church, I mean in her
distinct and clerical capacity, was against destroy-
ing or punishing difference in opinion, till the
popes of Rome did super-seminate, and persuade
the contrary, yet the bishops did persuade the
emperors to make laws against heretics, and to
punish disobedient persons with fines, with im-
prisonment, with death, and banishment respect-
ively. This, indeed, calls us to a new account :
for the churchmen might not proceed to blood, nor
corporal inflictions, but might they not deliver
over to the secular arm, and persuade temporal
princes to do it ? For tliis I am to say, that since
it is notorious that the doctrine of the clergy was
against punishing heretics, the laws which were
made by the emperors against them might be for
restraint of differing religion, in order to the pre-
servation of the public peace, which is too fre-
quently violated by the division of opinions. But
I am not certain whether that was always the
reason, or whether or no some bishops of the court
did not also serve their own ends, in giving their
princes such untoward counsel; but we find the
laws made severally to several purposes, in divers
cases, and with different severity. Constantine
the emperor made a sanction, " that they who
erred might enjoy the blessing of peace and quiet-
ness equally with the faithful."'- The emperor

* " Ut parem cum fidelibus ii qui errant paci? et quietig
fhiitionem gaudentes accipiant."— Apud. Euseb. de Vita
Constant.

336 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

Gratian decreed, "that every one might follow
what religious opinion he chose, and that all might
come to the ecclesiastical conventions without
apprehension ;"* but he excepted the Manichees,
the Photinians, and Eunomians. Theodosius the
elder made a law of death against the Anabaptists
of his time, and banished Eunomius, and against
other emng persons appointed a pecuniary mulct;
but he did no executions so severe as his sanc-
tions, to show tliey were made in terrorem only.t
So were tlie laws of Valentinian and Martian,^,
decreeing, contra omnes qui prava docere tenent,
'*>who persisted in teaching heretical opinions,"
that they should be put to death ; so did Michael§
the emperor, but Justinian only decreed banish-
ment.

But whatever whispers some politics might
make to their princes, as the wisest and holiest
did not think it lawful for churchmen alone to do
executions, so neither did they transmit sucli per-
sons to the secular judicature. And therefore,
when the edict of Macedonius, the president, was
so ambiguous, that it seemed to threaten death to
heretics unless they recanted, St. Austin admo-
nished him carefully to provide that no heretic
should be put to death ; alleging it, also, not. only
to be unchristian, but illegal also, and not war-
ranted by imperial constitutions ; for before his
time no laws were made for their being put to
death; but, however, he prevailed tliat Mace-
donius published another edict, more explicit and

* " Ut quam quisque vellet religionem sequcretur ; et con-
ventus Ecclesiasticos semoto metu omnes agerent."

t Vide Socrat. lib. \ii. c. 12.

X Vid. Cod. de Haeretic. L. Manichees. et leg. Arriani, et
1, Quicunque.

§ Apud Paulum Diac. lib. xvi, et lib. xxiv.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 3S7

less seemingly severe. But in liis epistle to
Donatus, tlie African proconsul, he is more con-
fident and determinate ; " We are impelled by
necessity rather to perish by them, tlian to rush
upon tliose who are devoted to destruction by
your decrees."*

But afterwards, many got a trick of giving them
over to the secular power, which at tlie best is no
better tlian hypocrisy, removing envy from them-
selves, and laying it upon others ; a refusing to do
that in external act which they do in council and
approbation; which is a transmitting tlie act to
another, and retaining a proportion of guilt unto
tliemselves, even their own and the other's too.
I end tliis witli the saying of Clirysostom : " We
ought to reprove and condemn impieties and
heretical doctrines^ but to spare the men^ and to
pray for tlieir salvation .*'t

* "Necessitate nobis iinpacta et indicta, ut potius occidi
ab eis eligamus, quam eos occidendos vestris judiciis ingera-
mus."

t "Dogmata impia, et qua ab haereticis profecta sunt ar-
guere et anathematizare oportet, horainibus autem paicen-
dum et pro salute orum oraridum." — Serm. de Anathemate.

S38 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SECTION XV.

How far the Church or Governors may act to the
restraining false or differing Opinions.

But although heretical persons are not to be
destroyed, yet heresy being a work of the flesh,
and all heretics criminal persons, whose acts and
doctrine have influence upon communities of men,
whether ecclesiastical or civil, the governors of
the republic, or church, respectively, are to da
their duties in resti'aining those mischiefs wliich
may happen to tlieir several charges, for whose
indemnity they are answerable. And therefore,
according to tlie effect or malice of the doctrine
or the person, so the cognizance of them belongs
to several judicatures. If it be false doctrine in
any capacity, and doth mischief in any sense, or
teaches ill life in any instance, or encourages evil
in any particular, s-u ^KnofAt^uv, these men must be
silenced ; they must be convinced by sound doc-
trine, and put to silence by spiritual evidence, and
restrained by authority ecclesiastical ; tliat is, by
spiritual censures, according as it seems necessary
to him who is most concerned in the regimen of
the churcli. For all this we have precept, and
precedent apostolical, and much reason. For by
thus doing the governor of the church uses all
that authority that is competent, and all the means
that is reasonable, and that proceeding which is
regular, that he may discharge his cure and secure
his flock. And that he possibly may be deceived
in judging a doctiine to be heretical, and, by c6n-

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 339

sequence, the person excommunicate suffers in-
jury, is no argument against the reasonableness
of the proceeding. For all the injury that is
is visible and in appearance, and so is his crime.
Judges must judge according to their best reason,
guided by the law of God as their rule, and by
evidence and appearance as their best instrument,
and tliey can judge no better. If the judges be
good and prudent, the error of proceeding will
not be great nor ordinary; and there can be no
better establishment of human judicature than is
a fallible proceeding upon an infallible ground :
and if the judgment of heresy be made by esti-
mate and proportion of the opinion to a good or a
bad life respectively, supposing an error in the
deduction, there will be no malice in the conclu-
sion ; and that he endeavors to secure piety ac-
cording to the best of his understanding, and yet
did mistake in his proceeding, is only an argu-
ment that he did iiis duty after the manner of
men, possibly with the piety of a saint, though
not with the understanding of an angel. And
the little inconvenience that happens to the per-
son injuriously judged, is abundantly made up in
the excellency of the discipline, the goodness of
the example, the care of the public, and all those
great influences into the manners of men which
derive from such an act so publicly consigned.
But such public judgment in matters of opinion
must be seldom and curious, and never but to
secure piety and a holy life ; for in matters
speculative, as all determinations are fallible, so
scarce any of them are to purpose, nor ever able
to make compensation of either side, either for
the public fraction or the particulai" injustice, if it
should so happen in the censure.

340 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

But then, as the church may proceed thus far,
yet no Christian man, or community of men, may
proceed farther. For if they be deceived in their
judgment and censure, and yet have passed only
spiritual censures, they are totally ineffectual, and
come to nothing ; there is no effect remaining upon
the soul, and such censures are not to meddle
with the body so much as indirectly. But if any
other judgment pass upon persons erring, such
judgments whose effects remain, if the person be
unjustly censured, nothing, will answer and make
compensation for such injuries. If a person be ex-
communicate unjustly, it will do him no hurt; but
if he be killed, or dismembered unjustly, that cen-
sure and infliction is not made ineffectual by his
innocence: he is certainly killed and dismembered.
So that as the church's authority in such cases, so
restrained and made prudent, cautelous, and or-
derly, is just and competent ; so the proceeding is
reasonable, it is provident for the public, and the
inconveniences that may fall upon particulars so
little, as that the public benefit makes ample
compensation, so long as the proceeding is but
spiritual.

This discourse is in the case of such opinions,
which by the former rules are formal heresies, and
upon practical inconveniences. But, for matters
of question which have not in them an enmity to
the public tranquillity, as the republic hath nothing
to do upon the ground of all the former discourses,
so, if the church meddles with them where they
do not derive into ill life, either in the person or
in the consequent, or else the destructions of the
foundation of religion, which is all one ; for that
those fundamental articles are of greatest neces-
sity, in order to a virtuous and godly life, which is

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 341

wholly built upon them (and therefore are prlnci-
pallj necessary), if she meddles further, otherwise
than by preaching, and conferring, and exhorta-
tion, she becomes tyrannical in her government,
makes herself an immediate judge of consciences
and persuasions, lords it over their faith, destroys
unity and charit}' ; and as he that dogmatizes the
opinion becomes criminal if he troubles the church
with an immodest, peevish, and pertinacious pro-
posal of his article, not simply necessarv; so the
church does not do her duty, if she so condemns
it j)ro trihimali, as to enjoin him and all her sub-
jects to believe the contrary. And as there may
be pertinacy in doctrine, so there may be pertinacy
in judging, and both are faults. The peace of the
church and the unity of her doctrine is best con-
served when it is judged by the proportion it hatli
to tliat rule of unity which the apostles gave, that
is, the creed for articles of mere belief, and tfie
precepts of Jesus Christ, and the practical rules of
piety, which are most plain and easy, and without
controversy set down in the gospels and writino-s
of the apostles. But to multiply articles, and adopt
them into the family of the faith, and to require
^iissent to such articles, which (as St. Paul's phrase
.13) are of doubtful disputation, equal to that assent
we give to matters of faith, is to build a tower
upon the top of a buUrush ; and the further the
effect of such proceedings does extend, the worse
they are; the very making such a law is unrea-
...gonabie; the inflicting spiritual censures upon
them that cannot do so much violence to their
understanding as to obey it, is unjust and inef-
j.f^ctual; but to punish the person with death, or
_ with corporal infliction, indeed it is effectual, but
it is therefore tyrannical. We have seen what
29'^

)42 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the church may do towards restraining false or
differing opinions ; next I shall consider, by way
of corollary, what the prince may do as for his
interest, and only in securing his people, and
sel-ving the ends of true religion.

SECTION XVI.

Whether it he lawful for a Prince to give Toleration
to several Religions.

For upon these very grounds we may easily give
account of that great question, whether it be lawful
for a prince to give toleration to several religions ?

For, first, it is a great fault that men will call the
several sects of Chnst: .::s by the names of several
religions- The religion of J esus Christ is the form
of sound doctrine and wholesome words, which is
set dov/n in Scripture indefinitely, actually con-
veyed to us by plain places, and separated as for
the question of necessary or not necessary by the
symbol of the apostles. Those impertinencies
which the wantonness and vanity of men hath
commenced, which their interests have promoted,
which serve not truth so much as their own ends,
are far from being distinct religions ; for matters
of opinion are no parts of the worship of God, nor
in order to it, but as they promote obedience to his
commandments; and when they contribute to-
wards it, are, in that proportion as they contribute,

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 343

parts and actions, and minute particulars of that
religion to whose end they do, or pretend to serve.
And such are all the sects and all the pretences
of Christians, but pieces and minutes of Chris-
tianity, if they do serve the great end, as every
man foi his own sect and interest believes fur his
share it does.

2. Toleration hath a double sense or purpose ;
for sometimes by it men understand a public license
and exercise of a sect ; sometimes it is only an in-
demnity of the persons privately to convene and
to opine as they see cause, and as they mean to
answer to God. Both these are very much to the
same purpose, unless some persons whom we are
bound to satisfy be scandalized ; and then the
prince is bound to do as he is bound to satisfy.
To God it is all one. For, abstractino- from tlie
offence of persons, which is to be considered just
as our obligation is to content the persons, it is all
one whether we indulge to them to meet publicly
or privately to do actions of religion, concerning
which we are not persuaded that they are truly
holy. To God it is just one to be in the dark and
in the light ; the thing is the same, only the cir-
cumstance of public and private is different, which
cannot be concerned in any thing, nor can it con-
cern any thing but the matter of scandal and rela-
tion to the minds and fantasies of certain persons.

o. So that to tolerate is not to persecute. And
the question, whether the prince may tolerate
divers persuasions, is no more than v/hether he
may lawfully persecute any man for not being of
his opinion. Now, in this case, he is just so to
tolerate diversity of persuasions as he is to tolerate
public actions ; for no opinion is judicable, nor no
person punishable, but for a sin ; and if his opinion,

344 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

by reason of its managing or its effect, be a sin in
itself, or becomes a sin to the person, then, as he
is to do towards other sins, so to that opinion or
man so opining. But to believe so, or not so,
when there is no more but mere believing, is not
in his power to enjoin — therefore not to punish.
And it is not only lav/ful to tolerate disagreeing
persuasions, but the authority of God only is com-
petent to take notice of it, and infallible to deter-
mine it, and fit to judge ; and therefore no human
authority is sufficient to do all those things which
can justify the inflicting temporal punishments
upon such as do not conform in their persuasions
to a rule or authority which is not only fallible,
but supposed by the disagreeing person to be
actually deceived.

But 1 consider, that in the toleration of a differ-
ent opinion, religion is not properly. and imme-
diately concerned, so as in any degree to be
endangered. For it may be safe in divei'sity of
persuasions, and it is also a part of Christian
religion,* that the liberty of men's consciences
should be preserved in all things where God hath
not set a limit and made a restraint ; that the soul
of man should be free, and acknowledge no master
but Jesus Christ; that matters spiritual should not
be restrained by punishments corporal ; that the
same meekness and charity should be preserved
in the promotion of Christianity that gave it
foundation, and increment, and firmness in its
iirst publication ; that conclusions should not be
more dogmatical than the virtual resolution and
efficacy of the premises; and that the persons

* " Humani juris et naturaiis polestatis, unicuiq. quod
putaverit, colere. Sed nee religionis est cogere reiij^ionem,
quae suscipi sponte debet, non vi.'' — Tertul. ad Scapulam. ^

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 345

should not more certainly be condemned than
their opinions confuted; and lastly, that the in-
firmities of men and difficulties of things should
be both put in balance, to make abatement in the
'definitive sentence against men's persons. But
then, because toleration of opinions is not properly
a question of religion, it may be a question of
policy: and although a man may be a good Chris-
tian, though he believe an error not fundamental,
and not directly or evidently impious, yet his
opinion may accidentally disturb the public peace,
through the overactiveness of the person, and the
confidence of their belief, and the opinion of its
appendant necessity; and therefore toleration of
differing persuasions, in these cases, is to be con-
sidered upon political grounds, and is just so to be
admitted or denied as the opinions or toleration
of them may consist with the public and necessary
ends of government. Only this: as Christian
princes must look to the interest of their govern-
ment, so especially must they consider the interests
of Christianity, and not call redargutioii or modest
discovery of an established error, by the name of
disturbance of the peace. For it is very likely
that the peevishness and impatience of contradic-
tion in the governors may break the peace. Let
them remember but the gentleness of Christianity,
the liberty of consciences which ought to be pre-
served ; and let them do justice to the persons,
w^hoever they are that are peevish, provided no
man's person be overborne with prejudice. For
if it be necessary for all men to subscribe to the
present established religion, by the same reason,
at another time, a man may be bound to subscribe
to the contradictory, and so to all religions in the
world. And they only who by their too much

346 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

confidence entitle God to all their fancies, and
make them to be questipns of religion and evi-
dences for heaven, or consignations to hell, they
only think this doctrine unreasonable ; and they
are the men that first disturb the church's peace,,
and then think there is no appeasing the tumult
but by getting the victory. But they that consider
things wisely, understand that since salvation and
damnation depend not upon impertinencies, and
yet that public peace and tranquillity may, the
prince is in this case to seek how to secure govern-
ment, and the issues and intentions of that, while
there is in the cases. directly no insecurity to reli-
gion, unless by the accidental uncharitableness of
them that dispute ; which uncharitableness is also
much prevented when the public peace is secured,
and no person is on either side engaged upon
revenge,* or troubled with disgrace, or vexed with
punishments by any decretory sentence against
him. It was the saying of a wise statesman (I
mean Thuanus),t '' If you persecute heretics or
discrepants, they unite themselves as to a common
defence: if you permit them, they divide them-
selves upon private interest;" and the rather, if
this interest was an ingredient of the opinion.

The sum is this: — it concerns the duty of a
prince because it concerns the honor of God, that
all vices and every part of ill life be discounte-
nanced and restrained ; and therefore, in relation
to that, opinions are to be dealt witli. For the un-
derstanding being to direct the will, and opinions
to guide our practices, they are considerable only

* <'Dexl;era praecipue capit indul^entia raentes, asperitas
odium ssevaque bella parit."

t " Haeretici qui pace data factionibus scinduntur, perse-
cutione uniuntur contra remp."

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 347

as they teach impiety and vice, as they either
dishonor God or disobey him. Now, all such doc-
trines are to be condemned ; but for the persons
preaching such doctrines, if they neither justify
nor approve the pretended consequences which are
certainly impious, they are to be separated from
that consideration. But if they know such conse-
quences and allow them, or if they do not stay till
the doctrines produce impiety, but take sin before-
hand, and manage them impiously in any sense ;
or if either themselves or their doctrine do really
and without color or feigned pretext disturb the
public peace and just interests, they are not to be
suffered. In all other cases, it is not only lawful to
permit them, but it is also necessary that princes
and all in authority should not persecute discre-
pant opinions. And in such cases, wherein per-
sons not otherwise incompetent are bound to re-
prove an error (as they are in many), in all these,
if the prince makes restraint, he hinders men from
doing their duty, and from obeying the laws of
Jesus Christ.

348 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SECTION XVII.

Of Compliance with disagreeing Persons^ or weak
Consciences in general.

Upon these grounds it remains that we reduce
this doctrine to practical conclusions, and consider
among the diftering sects and opinions which
trouble these parts of Christendom, and come into
our concernment, which sects of Christians are to
be tolerated, and how far ; and which are to be
restrained and punished in their several propor-
tions.

The first consideration is, that since diversity
of opinions does more concern public peace than
religion, what is to be done to persons ^vho disobey
a public sanction, upon a true allegation that
they cannot believe it to be lawful to obey such
constitutions, although they disbelieve them upon
insufficient grounds; that is, whether in constituta
lege disagreeing persons or weak consciences are
to be complied withal, and their disobeying and
disagreeing tolerated ?

1. In this question there is no distinction can
be made between persons truly weak and but pre-
tending so. For all that pretend to it are to be
allowed the same liberty, whatsoever it be ; for no
man's spirit is known to any but to God and him-
self; and therefore pretences and realities in this
case are both alike, in orcler to the public tolera-
tion. And this very thing is one argument to per-
suade a negative. For the chief thing in this case

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 349

is the concernment of public government, which
is then most of all violated, when what may pru-
dently be permitted to some purposes may be
demanded to many more, and the piety of the laws
abused to the impiety of other men's ends. And
if laws be made so malleable as to comply with
weak consciences, he that hath a mind to disobey
is made impregnable against the coercitive power
of the law by this pretence. For a weak conscience
signifies nothing in this case but a dislike of the
law upon a contrary persuasion. For if some weak
consciences do obey the law, and others do not, it
is not their weakness indefinitely that is tlie cause
of it, but a definite and particular persuasion to
the contrary. So that if such a pretence be excuse
sufficient from obeying, then the law is a sanction
obliging every one to obey that hath a mind to it,
and he tliat hath not may choose; that is, it is no
law at all : for he that hath a mind to it may do it,
if there be no law, and he that hath no mind to it
need not for all the law.

And therefore the wit of man cannot prudently
frame a law of that temper and expedient, but
either he must lose the formality of a law, and
neither have power coercitive nor obligatory, but
by the will of inferiors, or else it cannot, antece-
dently to the particular case, give leave to any
sort of men to disagree or disobey.

2. Suppose that a law be made, widi great reason,
so as to satisfy divers persons, pious and prudent,
that it complies with the necessity of government,
and promotes the interest of God's service and
public order, it may be easily imagined that these
persons, which are obedient sons of the church,
may be as zealous for the public order and disci-
pline of the church, as- others for their opinion

350 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

against it, and may be as much scandalized, if
disobedience be tolerated, as others are if the law
be exacted ; and what shall be done in this case ?
Both sorts of men cannot be complied withal,
because, as these pretend to be offended at the
law, and by consequence (if they understand the
consequents of their own. opinion), at them that
obey the law ; so the others are justly offended
at them that unjustly disobey it. If, therefore,
there be any on the right side as confident and
zealous as they who are on the wrong side, then
the disagreeing persons are not to be complied with'
to avoid giving offence ; for if they be, offence is
given to better persons, and so the mischief which
such complying seeks to prevent is made greater
and more unjust, obedience is discouraged, and
disobedience is legally canonized for the result of
a holy and a tender conscience.

3. Such complying with the disagreeings of a
sort of men, is the total overthrow of all disci-
pline ; and it is better to make no laws of public
worship, than to rescind them in the very consti-
tution ; and there can be no end in making the
sanction but to make the law ridiculous, and the
authority contemptible. For, to say that com-
plying with weak consciences, in the very framing
of a law of discipline, is the way to preserve unity,
were all one as to say, to take av/ay all laws is the
best way to prevent disobedience. In such mat-
ters of indifferency, the best way of cementing
the fraction is to unite the parts in the authority;
for then the question is but one, viz. whether the
authority must be obeyed or not ? But if a per-
mission be given of disputing the particulars, the
questions become next to infinite. A mirror, when
it is broken, represents the object multiplied and

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 351

divided; but if it be entire, and through one
centre transmits the species to the eye, the vision
is one and natural. Laws are the mirror in which
men are to dress and compose their actions, and
therefore must not be broken with such clauses of
exception, which may, without remedy, be abused,
to tlie prejudice of authority, and peace, and all
human sanctions. And I have known, in some
churches, that this pretence hath been nothing but
a design to discredit the law, to dismantle the
authority that made it, to raise their own credit,
and a trophy of their zeal, to make it a charac-
teristic note of a sect, and the cognizance of holy
persons ; and yet the men that claimed exemption
from the laws, upon pretence of having weak con-
sciences, if in hearty expression you had told them
so to their heads, they would have spit in your
face, and were so far from confessing themselves
weak, that they thought themselves able to give
laws to Christendom, to instruct the greatest
clerks, and to catechise the church herself. And
which is the worst of all, they who were perpetu-
ally clamorous that the severity of the laws should
slacken as to their particular, and in matter adia-
phorous (in which, if the church hath any autho-
lity, she hath power to make laws), to indulge a
leave to them to do as they list, yet were the most
imperious amongst men, most decretory in their
sentences, and most impatient of any disagreeing
from them, though in the least minute and parti-
cular; whereas, by all the justice of the world,
they who persuade such a compliance in matters
of fact, and of so little question, should not deny
to tolerate persons that differ in questions of great
difficulty and contestation.

4. But yet, since all things almost in the world

352 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

Imve been made matters of dispute, and the will
of some men, and the malice of others, and the
infinite industry and pertinacy of contesting,
and resolution to conquer, hath abused some per-
sons innocently into a persuasion that even the
laws themselves, though never so prudently con-
stituted, are superstitious or impious, such persons
who are otherwise pious, humble, and religious,
are not to be destroyed for such matters, which in
themselves are not of concernment to salvation,
and neither are so accidentally to such men and
in such cases where they are innocently abused,
and they err without purpose and design. And
therefore, if there be a public disposition in some
persons to dislike laws of a certain quality, if it
be foreseen, it is to be considered in lege dicenda
pn the framing of a statute); and whatever incon-
venience or particular offence is foreseen, is either
to be directly avoided in the law, or else a com-
pensation in the excellency of the law, and cer-
tain advantages made to outweigh their preten-
sions : but in lege jam dicta (in a statute already
enacted), because there may be a necessity some
persons should have a liberty indulged them, it is
necessary that the governors of the church should
be entrusted with a power to consider the parti-
cular case, and indulge a liberty to the person,
and grant personal dispensations. This, I say, is
to be done at several times, upon particular in-
stance, upon singular consideration, and new
emergencies. But that a whole kind of men, such
a kind to which all men, without possibility of
being confuted may pretend, should at once, in
the very frame of the law, be permitted to disobey,
is to nullify the law, to destroy discipline, and to
hallow disobedience ; it takes away the obliging

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 353

part of the law, and makes that the thing enacted
shall not be enjoined, but tolerated only; it de-
stroys unity and uniformity, which to preserve
was the very end of such laws of discipline ; it
bends the rule to the thing which is to be ruled,
so that the law obeys the subject, not the subject
the law; it is to make a law for particulars, nor
upon general reason and congruity, against the
prudence and design of all laws in the world, and
absolutely without the example of any church in
Christendom; it prevents no scandal, for some
will be scandalized at the authority itself, some at
the complying, and remissness of discipline, and
several men at matters and upon ends contradic-
tory : all which cannot, some ought not to be com-
plied withal.

6. The sum is this: the end of the laws of dis-
cipline is in an immediate order to the consen^a-
tion and ornament of the public, and therefore the
laws must not so tolerate, as by consenting persons
to destroy themselves and the public benefit; but
if there be cause for it, they must be cassated ; or
if there be no sufficient cause, the complyings
must be so as may best preserve the particulars,
in conjunction with the public end, which, because
it is primarily intended, is of greatest considera-
tion ; but the particulars, whether of case or per-
son, are to be considered occasionally and'emer-
gently by the judges, but cannot antecedently and
regularly be determined by a law.

But this sort of men is of so general pretence
that all laws and all judges may easily be abused
by them. Those sects which are signified by a
name, which have a system of articles, a body of
profession, may be more clearly determined in
30*

354 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

their question concerning the lawfulness of per-
mitting their professions and assemblies.

I shall instance in two, which are most trouble-
some and most disliked ; and bj an account made
of these, we may make judgment what may be
done towards others, whose errors are not appre-
hended of so great malignity. The men I mean
are the anabaptists and the papists.

SECTION XVIII.

Ji particular consideration of the Opinions of the
Anabaptists.

In the Anabaptists I consider only their two
capital opinions, the one against the baptism of
infants, the other against magistracy; and because
they produce different judgments and various
effects, all their other fancies, which vary as the
moon does, may stand or fall in their proportion
and likeness to these.

And first, I consider their denying baptism to
infants: although it be adoctrine justly condemned
by the most sorts of Christians, upon great grounds
of reason, yet possibly their defence may be so
great as to take off much, and rebate the edge of
their adversaries' assault. It will be neither un-
pleasant nor unprofitable to draw a short scheme
of plea for each party, the result of which possibly
may be, that though they be deceived, yet they

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING, 355

have so great excuse on their side that their error
is not impudent or vincible. The baptism of in-
fants rests wholly upon this discourse.

When God made a covenant with Abraham, for
himself and his posterity, into which the gentiles
were reckoned by spiritual adoption, he did, for
the present, consign that covenant with the sa-
crament of circumcision. The extent of which rite
^vas to all his family, from the major domo (the
head or patriarch) to the proselytus domiciiio (the
proselyte among his servants), and to infants of
eight days old. Now the very nature of this
covenant being co^'enallt of faith for its formality,
and with all faithful people for the object, and
circumcision being a seal of this covenant, if ever
any rite do supervene to consign the same cove-
nant, that rite must acknowledge circumcision for
its type and precedent. And this the apostles
tell us, in express doctrine. Now the nature of
tj^pes is to give some proportions to its successor,
the antitype ; and they both being seals of the
same righteousness of faith, it will not easily be
found where these two seals liave any such dis-
tinction in their nature or purposes, as to apper-
tain to persons of differing capacity, and not
equally concern all; and this argument was
thought of so much force by some of those excel-
lent men which were bishops in the primitive
church, that a good bishop writ an epistle to St.
Cyprian, to know of him wliether or no it were
lawful to baptize infants before the eighth day,
because the type of baptism was ministered in
that circumcision ; he, in his discourse, supposing
that the first rite was a direction to the second,
which prevailed with him so far as to believe it to
limit every circumstance.

S3Q THE SACRED CLASSICS.

And not only this type, but the acts of Christ
which were previous to the institution of baptism,
did prepare our understanding by such impresses
as were sufficient to produce such persuasion in
us, that Christ intended this ministry for the actual
advantage of infants as well as of persons of un-
derstanding. For Christ commanded that cliild-
ren should be brouglit unto him, he took them in
his arms, he imposed hands on them and blessed"
them; and, without questions, did, by such acts of
favor, consign his love to them, and them to a
capacity of an eternal participation of it. And
possibly the invitation which Christ made to all to
come to him, all them that are heavy laden, did,
in its proportion, concern infants as much as
others, if they be guilty of original sin, and if that
sin be a burthen, and presses tliem to spiritual
danger or inconvenience. And it is all the reason
of the world, since the grace of Christ is as large
as the prevarication of Adam, all they who are
made guilty by the first Adam should be cleansed
by the second. But as they are guilty by another
man's act, so they should be brought to the font to
be purified by others, there being the same pro-
portion of reason, that by others' acts they should
be relieved who were in danger of perishing by
the act of others. And therefore St. Austin
argues excellently to this purpose : " The church
furnishes them with the feet of others that they
may come, with the heart of others that they may
believe, witii the tongue of others that they may
make confession ; in order that, as they are dis-
eased in consequence of another's sin, so being
made whole by another's confession, they may
be saved."* And Justin Martyr : ''The children

* Accommodat illis mater ecclesia aliorum pedes, ut veni-

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 357

of pious parents are accounted worthy of baptism,
tbrougli the faith of those who bring them to be
baptized.""^

But whether they have original sin or no, yet
take them in their state as they are by nature, they
cannot go to God, or attain to eternity, to which
they were intended in their first being and crea-
tion ; and therefore, much less since their naturals
are impaired by the curse on human nature procured
by Adam's prevarication. And if a natural agent
cannot in its state of nature attain to heaven,
which is a supernatural end, much less when it is
loaden with accidental and grievous impediments.
Now, then, since the only way revealed to us
of acquiring heaven is by Jesus Christ, and the
first inlet into Christianity and access to him is
by baptism, as appears by the perpetual analogy of
the New Testament, either infants are not persons
capable of that end which is the perfection of hu-
man nature, and to which the soul of man, in its
being made immortal, was essentially designed,
and so are miserable and deficient from the end of
humanity, if they die before the use of reason; or
else they must be brought to Christ by the church
doors, that is, by the font and waters of baptism.

And, in reason, it seems more pregnant and
plausible, that infants, rather than men of under-
standing should be baptized. For since the
efficacy of the sacraments depends upon divine
institution and immediate benediction, and that

ant; aliorum cor, ut credant ; aliorum linojuamjUtfateantur:
ut quoniam, quod se^ri sunt, alio peccante prsegravantur, sic
cum sani fiant alio confitente salventur.'" — Serni. x. de
Verb. Apost.

* ^A^to-jvTAi S'l Tuv VIA Tou /S^tTmo-fxATOC ttydt^Od') T« /?;)5-1») t;*
-ris-Tii <TCi}V -rpog-^ipovrav autoc tw ^ctTrTta-fxciri. — Resp. ad
Orthodoxos.

358 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

they produce their effects independently upon man,
in them that do not hinder their operation ; since
infants cannot by any act of their own promote the
hope of their own salvation, which men of reason
and choice may, by acts of virtue and election ; it
is more agreeable to the goodness of God, the
honor and excellency of the sacrament, and the
necessity of its institution, that it should in infants
supply the want of human acts and free obedience.
Which the very thing itself seems to say it does,
because its effect is from God, and requires nothing
on man's part but that its efficacy be not hindered :
and then in infants the disposition is equal, and
the necessity more ; they cannot object to other's
acts, and by the same reason cannot do other's
acts, which, without the sacraments, do advantage
us towards our hopes of heaven ; and therefore
have more need to be supplied by an act and an
institution divine and supernatural.

And this is not only necessary in respect of the
condition of infants' incapacity to do acts of grace,
but also in obedience to divine precept. For Christ
made a law% whose sanction is with an exclusive
negative to them that are not baptized : " Unless a
man be born of water and of the Spirit, he shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven." If then
infants have a capacity of being co-heirs with
Christ, in the kingdom of his Father, as Christ
affirms they have, by saying, '' For of such is the
kingdom of heaven," then there is a necessity that
they should be brought to baptism, there being an
absolute exclusion of all persons unbaptized, and
all persons not spiritual, from the kingdom of
heaven.

But, indeed, it is a destruction of all the hopes
and happiness of infants, a denying to them an

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 359

exemption from the final condition of beasts and
insects, or else a designing of them to a worse
misery, to say that God hath not appointed some
external or internal means of bringing them to an
eternal happiness. Internal they have none; for
grace being an improvement, and heightening the
faculties of nature, in order to a heightened, and
supernatural end, grace hath no influence or effi-
cacy upon their faculties, wlio can do no natural
acts of understanding ; and if there be no external
means, then they are destitute of all hopes and
possibilities of salvation.

But, thanks be to God, he hath provided better,
and told us accordingly , for he hath made a pro-
mise of the Holy Ghost to infants as well as to
men. "The promise is made to you and to your
children," said St. Peter ; *• the promise of the Fa-
ther," the promise that he would send the Holy
Ghost. Now, if you ask how this promise shall
be conveyed to our children, we have an express,
out of the same sermon of St. Peter :* " Be baptized,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost;"
so tjiat, because the Holy Ghost is promised, and
baptism is the means of receiving the promise,
therefore baptism pertains to them to whom the
promise, which is the effect of baptism, does ap-
pertain. And that we may not think this argument
is fallible, or of human collection, deserve tliat it
is the argument of tlie same apostles in express
terms ; for in the case of Cornelius and his family,
he justified his proceeding by this very medium ;
" Shall we deny baptism to them who have received
the gift of the Holy Ghost as well as we ?" Which
discourse, if it be reduced to form of argument,
says this : they that are capable of the same grace
* Acts, ii. 3S, 39.

360 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

are receptive of the same sign ; but then (to make
the syllogism up with an assumption proper to our
present purpose) infants are capable of the same
grace, that is, of the Holy Ghost (for the promise
is made to our children as well as to us, and St.
Paul says, the children of believing parents are
holy and therefore have the Holy Ghost, who is
the fountain of holiness and sanctiiication), there-
fore they are to receive the sign and the seal of it ;
that is the sacrament of baptism.

And indeed, since God entered a covenant with
the Jews, which did also actually involve their
children, and gave them a sign to establish the
covenant and its appendant promise, either God
does not so much love the church as he did the
synagogue, and the mercies of the gospel are more
restrained than the mercies of the law, God having
made a covenant with the infants of Israel, and
nonefwith the children of Christian parents ; or if
he hath, yet we want the comfort of its consign-
ation; and, unless our children are to be baptized,
and so entitled to the promises of the new covenant,
as the Jewish babes were by circumcision, this
mercy which appertains to infants is so secret, and
undeclared, and unconsigned, that we want much
of that mercy and outward testimony wliich gave
them comfort and assurance.

And in proportion to these precepts and revela-
tions was the practice apostolical; for they (to
whom Christ gave in precept to make disciples all
nations, baptizing them, and knew that nations
without children never were, and that therefore
they were passively concerned in that commission),
baptized whole families, particularly that of Ste-
phanus, and divers others, in which it is more than
probable there were some minors, if not sucking

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. S6l

babes. And tliis practice did descend upon the
church in after ages by tradition apostolical. Of
this we have sufficient testimony from Origen : —
*' The church has received it by tradition from the
apostles to admit little children to the rite of
baptism"* and St. Austin : — " This practice the
church has received upon the faith of the fathers."!
And generally all writers (as Calvin says) affirm
the same thing, for " there is no writer so ancient
as not to refer its origin to the apostolic age."|
From hence the conclusion is, that infants ought
to be baptized, that it is simply necessary, that
they who deny it are heretics, and such are not to
be endured, because they deny to infants hopes, and
take away the possibility of their salvation, which
is revealed to us on no other condition of which
they are capable but baptism. For by the insinua-
tion of the type, by the action of Christ, by the
title infants have to heaven, by the precept of the
gospel, by the energy of the ])romise, by the rea-
sonableness of the thing, by the infinite necessity
on the infants' part, by the practice apostolical, by
their tradition, and the universal practice of the-
church ; by all these, God and good people pro-
claim the lawfulness, the coriveniency, and the
necessity of infants' baptism.

To all this, the Anabaptist gives a soft and
gentle answer, that it is a goodly harangue, which
upon strict examination will come to nothing ; that
it pretends fairly and signifies little ; that some of

* " Pro hoc ecclesia ab apostolis traditionem accepit, etiam
parvulis baptismum dare." — In Rom. vi. torn. ii. p. 543.

t "Hoc ecclesia a majorum fide percepit." — Serm. x. de
Verb. Apost. c. 2.

X " Nullus est scriptor tarn vetustus, qui uon ejus originem
ad apostolomra saeculum procerto referat." — 4 Instit. cap. 16,
sect. 8.

362 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

these allegations are false, some impertinent, and
all the rest insufficient.

For the argument from circumcision is invalid
upon infinite considerations :— figures and types
prove nothing, unless a commandment go along
with them, or some express to signify such to be
their purpose. For the deluge of waters and the
ark of Noah were a figure of baptism, said Peter;
and if, therefore, the circumstances of one should
be drawn to the other, we should make baptism a
prodigy rather than a rite. The paschal iamb was
a type of the eucharist, which succeeds the other
as baptism does to circumcision ; but because there
was, in the manducation of the paschal lamb, no
prescription of sacramental drink, shall we thence
conclude that the eucharist is to be ministered
but in one kind ? And even in the very instance
of this argument, supposing a correspondence of
analogy between circumcision and baptism, yet
there is no correspondence of identity; for al-
though it were granted that both of them did con-
sign the covenant of faith, yet there is nothing in
the circumstance of children's being circumcised,
that so concerns that mystery but that it miglit
very well be given to children, and yet baptism
only to men of reason ; because circumcision left a
character in the flesh, which being imprinted upon
infants did its work to them when they came to
age ; and such a character was necessary, because
there was no word added to the sign ; but baptism
imprints nothing that remains on the body, and if
it leaves a character at all, it is upon the soul, to
which also the word is added, which is as much a
part of the sacrament as the sign itself is. For
both which reasons, it is requisite that the persons
baptized should be capable of reason, that they may

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING, 363

be capable both of the word of the sacrament and
the impress made upon the spirit. Since, therefore,
the reason of this parity does wholly fail, there is
nothing left to infer a necessity of complying in this
circumstance of age any more than in the other
annexes of the type ; and the case is clear in the
bishop's question to Cyprian ;* f jr why shall not
infants be baptized just upon the eighth day, as
well as circumcised ? If the correspondence of the
rites be an argument to infer one circumstance
which is impertinent and accidental to the mys-
teriousness of the rite, why shall it not infer all r
And then, also, females must not be baptized,
because they were not circumcised. But it were
more proper, if we would understand it right, to
prosecute the analogy from the type to the anti-
type, by way of letter, and spirit, and signification ;
and as circumcision figures baptism, so also the
adjuncts of the circumcision shall signify some-
thing spiritual in the adherencies of baptism ; and
therefore, as infants were circumcised, so spiritual
infants shall be baptized, which is spiritual circum-
cision ; for therefore babes had the ministry of the
type, to signify that we must, when we give our
names to Christ, become v»7r/s< sy Trovn^tx, children
in malice ; " for unless you become like one of these
little ones, you cannot enter into the kingdom of
heaven," said our blessed Savior ; and then the
type is made complete. And this seems to have
been the sense of the primitive church; for in the
age next to the apostles they gave to all baptized
persons milk and honey, to represent to them their
duty, that though in age and understanding they
were men, yet they were babes in Christ, and

* Lib. iii. Epist. 8. ad Fidum

564 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

children in malice. But to infer the sense of the
paedobaptists is so weak a manner of arguing,
that Austin, whose device it was (and men use to
be in love with their own fancies), at the most
pretended it but as probable and a mere conjecture.

And as ill success will they have with the other
arguments as with this ; for, from the action of
Christ's blessing infants, to infer that they are to
be baptized, proves nothing so much as that there
is great want of better arguments. The conclusion
would be with more probability derived thus : — •
Christ blessed children, and so dismissed them,
but baptized them not; therefore infants are not to
be baptized ; but let this be as weak as its enemy,
yet that Christ did not baptize them is an argu-
ment sufficient that Christ hath other ways of
bringing them to heaven than by baptism ; he
passed his act of grace upon them by benediction
and imposition of hands.

And therefore, although neither infants nor any
man by nature can attain to a supernatural end
without the addition of some instrument or means
of God's appointing, ordinarily and regularly, yet
where God hath not appointed a rule nor an order,
as in the case of infants we contend he hath not,
the argument is invalid. And as we are sure that
God hath not commanded infants to be baptized,
so we are sure God will do them no injustice, nor
damn them for what they cannot help.

And therefore let them be pressed with all the
inconveniences that are consequent to original sin,
yet either it will not be laid to the charge of in-
fants, so as to be sufficient to condemn them, or
if it could, yet the mercy and absolute goodness
of God will secure them, if he takes them away
before they can glorify him with a free obedience.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 365

« Why is innocent infancy to be anxious for the
reraissioii of sins r*'-^ was the question of Ter-
tuliian [lib. de Bapt.) ? he kuevv- no such danger
from their original guilt, as to drive them to a
iaver of Mliich, in that age of innocence, they had
no need, as he conceived. And therefore there
is no necessity of flying to the help of others, for
toDgue, and heart, and faith, and predispositions
to baptism ; for what need all this stir ? As in-
fants without their own account, without any act
<d' their own, and without any exterior solemnity,
contracted the guilt of Adam's sin, and so are
liable to all the punishment which can with jus-
tice descend upon his posterity, who are personally
innocent ; so infants shall be restored without any
solemnity or act of their own, or of any other
men for them, by the second Adam, by the re-
demption of Jesus Christ, by his righteousness
and mercies, applied either immediately, or how
or wjicTi he shall be pleased to appoint. And so
St. Austin's argument will come to nothing, with-
out any need of godfathers, or the faith of any
body else. And it is too narrow a conception of
God Almighty, because he hath tied us to the
observation of the ceremonies of his own institu-
tion, that therefore he hath tied himself to it.
Many thousand ways there are by which God can
bring any reasonable soul to himself; but nothing
is more unreasonable, than because he hath tied
all men of years and discretion to this way, there-
iore we, of our own heads, shall carry infants to
iiim that way without his direction : the conceit is
poor and low, and the action consequent to it is
ttoo bold and venturous. "I have nothing to do

^■^ * " Quid ergo festiuat innocens astas ad remissionem pec-
catorum."

SI*

366 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

in religron but with myself and my household."^
Let him do what he please to infants, we must
not.

Only this is certain, that God hath as great care
of infants as of others ; and because they have no
capacity of doing such acts as may be in order to
acquiring salvation, God M'ill, by his own im-
mediate mercy, bring them thither where he hatli
intended them ; but to say that therefore he will
do it by an extet*nal act and ministry, and that
confined to a particular, viz. this rite and no other,
is no good argument, unless God could not do it
without such means, or that he had said he would
not. And why cannot God as well do his mer-
cies to infimts now immediately, as he did before
the institution either of circumcision or baptism ?

However, there is no danger that infants should
perish for want of this external ministry, much
less for prevaricating Christ's precept of 'Except
a man be born again,' &c. For, first, the water
and the Spirit in this place signify the same thing;
and by water is meant the effect of the Spirit,
cleansing and purifying the soul, as appears in its
parallel place of Christ baptizing with the Spirit
and with fire. For although this v/as literally
fulfilled in Pentecost, yet morally there is more
in it, for it is the sign of the effect of the Holy
Ghost, and his productions upon the soul ; and it
was an excellency of our blessed Savior's office,
that he baptizes all that come to him with the
Holy Ghost and with fire; for so St. John, pre-
ferring Christ's mission and office before his own,
tells the Jews, not Christ's disciples, that Christ
shall baptize them with fire and the Holy Spirit;

* " Myaterium meum mihi e filiis domus meae."

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 367

that Is, *all that come to him,' as John the Bap-
tist did with water, for so lies the antithesis : and
you may as wxll conclude that infants must also
pass through the fire as through the water. And
tiiat we may not think this a trick to elude the
pressure of this place, Peter says the same thing ;
for when he had said that baptism saves us, he
adds, by way of explication, ' not the washing of
the fiesh, but the confidence of a good conscience
towards God ;' plainly saying, that it is not water,
or the purifying of the body, but the cleansing of
tJie spirit, that does that which is supposed to be
the effect of baptism; and if our Savior's exclu-
sive negative be expounded by analogy to this of
Peter, as certainly the other parallel instance
must, and this may, then it will be so far from
proving the necessity of infants' baptism, that it
can conclude for no man that he is obliged to the
rite ; and the doctrine of the baptism is only to
derive from the very words of institution, and nut
be forced from words which vv^ere spoken before
it was ordained. But to let pass this advantage,
and to suppose it meant of external baptism, yet
this no more infers a necessity of infants' baptism,
than the other words of Christ infer a necessity
to give them the holy communion : ' Except ye
eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his
blood, ye cannot ent^r into the kingdom of heaven.'
And yet we do not think these words sufficient
argument to communicate them ; if men, there-
fore, will do us justice, either let them give both
sacraments to infants, as some ages of the church
did, or neither. For the wit of man is not able to
show a disparity in the sanction, or in the energy
of its expression. And therefore they were honest
that understood the obligation to be parallel, and

568 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

performed it accordingly; and yet because we
say they were deceived in one instance, and yet
the obligation (all the world cannot reasonably
say but) is the same, they are as honest and as
reasonable that do neither. And since the ancient
church did with an equal opinion of necessity
give them the communion, and yet men now-a-
days do not, why shall men be more burthened
with a prejudice and a name of obloquy for not
giving the infants one sacrament, more than they
are disliked for not affording them the other? li
Anabaptist shall be a name of disgrace, why shall
not some other name be invented for them that
deny to communicate infants, which sljall be
equally disgracefid, or else both the opinions sig-
nified by such names, be accounted no disparage-
ment, but receive their estimate according to their
truth?

Of which truth, since we are now taking ac-
count from pretences of Scripture, it is consider-
able that the discourse of St. Peter, which is pre-
tended for the entitling infants to the promise of
the Holy Ghost, and by consequence to baptism,
which is supposed to be its instrument and con-
veyance, is wholly a fancy, and hath in it nothing
of certainty or demonstration, and not much pro-
bability. For besides that the thing itself is un-
reasonable, and the Holy Ghost works by the
heightening and improving our natural faculties,
and therefore is a promise that so concerns them
as tliey are reasonable creatures, and may h.ave a
title to it in proportion to their nature, but no
possession or reception of it till their faculties
come into act ; besides this, I say, the words men-
tioned in St. Peter's sermon (which are the only
record of the promise) are interpreted upon a

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 369

weak mistake. " The promise belongs to you and
to jour children." therefore infants are actually
receptive of it in that capacity. That is the argu-
ment, but the reason of it is not yet discovered,
nor ever will ; for " to you and your children," is
to you and your posterity, to you and your chil-
dren when they are of the same capacity in which
you are effectually receptive of the promise ; but
he that, whenever the word children is used in
Scripture, shall by children understand infants,
must needs believe that in all Israel there were
no men, but all were infants ; and if that had
been true it had been the greater wonder they
should overcome the Anakims, and beat the king
of Moab, and march so far, and discourse so well,
for they were all called the children of Israel.

And for the allegatio^^ of St. Paul, that infants
are holy if their parents be faithful, it signifies
nothing but that they are holy by designation,
just as Jeremiah and John Baptist v/ere sanctified
in their mother's womb, that is, they were ap-
pointed and designed for holy ministries, but had
not received the promise of the Father — the gift
of tlie Holy Ghost — for all that sanctification ;
and just so the children of Christian parents are
sanctified: that is, designed to the service of
Jesus Christ and the future participation of the
promises.

And as the promise appertains not (for aught
appears) to infants in that capacity and consist-
ence, but only by the title of their being reason-
able creatures, and when they come to that act of
which by nature tliey have the faculty, so if it did,
yet baptism is not the means of conveying the
Holy Ghost. For that which Peter says, "Be
baptized and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost,"

STO THE SACRED CLASSICS.

signifies no more than this : first, be baptized, and
then by imposition of the apostles' hands (which
was another mystery and rite) ye shall receive
the promise of the Father. And this is nothing
but an insinuation of the rite of confirmation, as
is to this sense expounded by divers ancient
authors ; and in ordinary ministry the effect of it
is not bestowed upon any unbaptized persons, for
it is in order next after baptism, and upon this
ground Peter's argument in the case of Cornelius
was concluding enough, a mcijori ad minus (from
the gi-eater to the less). Thus the Holy Ghost
was bestowed upon him and his family, which
gift, by ordinary ministry, was consequent to bap-
tism (not as the effect is to the cause or to the
proper instrument, but as a consequent is to an
antecedent, in a chain of <<causes accidentally and
by positive institution depending upon each other).
God by that miracle did give testimony, that the
persons of the men were in great dispositions
towards heaven, and therefore were to be admit-
ted to those rites which are the ordinary inlets
into the kingdom of heaven. But then, from
hence to argue that wherever there is a capacity
of receiving the same grace there also the same
sign is to be ministered, and from hence to infer
psedobaptism, is an argument very fallacious upon
several grounds. First, because baptism is not
the sign of the Holy Ghost, but by another mys-
tery it was conveyed ordinarily, and extraordi-
narily it was conveyed independently from any
mystery ; and so the argument goes upon a wrong
supposition. Secondly, if the supposition were
true, the proposition built upon it is false; for
they that are capable of the same grace are not
always capable of the same sign; for women,

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYiXG. 371

under the law of Moses, although they wete
capable of the righteousness of faith, jet they
were not capable of the sign of circumcision.
For God does not always convey his graces in the
same manner, but to some mediately, to others
immediately; and there is no better instance in
the world of it than the gift of the Holy Ghost
(which is the thing now instanced in this contest-
ation) ; for it is certain in Scripture, that it was
ordinarily given by imposition of hands, and that
after baptism (and when this came into an ordi-
nary ministry it was called by the ancient church
chrism, or confirmation) ; but yet it was given
sometimes without imposition of hands, as at
Pentecost and to the family of Cornelius; some-
times before baptism, sometimes after, sometimes
in conjunction with it.

And after all this, lest these arguments should
not ascertain their cause, they fall on complaining
against God, and will not be content with God
unless they may baptize their children, but take
exceptions that God did more for the children of
tlie Jews. But why so .^ Because God made a
covenant with their children actually as info.nts,
and consigned it by circumcision. AVell, so he
did with our children too in their proportion. He
made a covenant of spiritual promises on his part,
and spiritual and real services on ours; and this
pertains to children when they are capable, but
made with them as soon as they are alive, and yet
not so as with the Jews' babes ; for as their rite
consigned them actually, so it was a national and
temporal blessing and covenant, as a separation of
them from the portion of the nations, a marking
them for a peculiar people (and therefore, while
they were in the wilderness, and separate from

372 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the commixture of all people, they were not all
circumcised), but as that rite did seal the righteous-
ness of faith, so by virtue of its adherency and
remaiiencj in their flesh, it did that work when
the children came to age. But in Christian infants
the case is otherwise ; for the new covenant being
established upon better promises, is not only to
better purposes, but also in distinct manner to be
understood ; when their spirits are as receptive
of a spiritual act or impress as the bodies of Jew-
isli children were of the sign of circumcision, then
it is to be consigned : but this business is quickly
at an end, by saying that God hath done no less
for ours than for their children ; for he will do the
mercies of a Father and Creator to them, and he
did no more to the other; but he hath done more
to ours, for he hath made a covenant with them,
and built it upon promises of the greatest concern-
ment; he did not so to them. But then, for the
other part, wliich is the main of the argument, that
unless this mercy be consigned by baptism, as
good not at all in respect of us, because we want
the comfort of it; this is the greatest vanity in
the world ; for when God hath made promise per-
taining also to our children (for so our adversaries
contend, and we also acknov/ledge in its true
sense), shall not this promise, this word of God,
be of sufficient truth, certainty, and efficacy, to
cause comfort, unless we tempt God, and require
a sign of him ? May not Christ say to these men
as sometime to the Jews, * a wicked and adulterous
generation secketh after a sign, but no sign shall
be given unto it ?' But the truth is, this argument
is nothing but a direct quarreling with God Al-
mighty.

Now, since there is no strength in the doctrinal

THE LIBERTY QF PROPHESYIXG. 3/3

part, the practice and precedents apostolical and
ecclesiastical will be of less concernment^ if they
were true as is pretended; because actions apos-
tolical are not always rules for ever. It might be
fit for them to do it pro loco et tempore (for the
place and time), as divers others of their institu-
tions, but yet no engagement passed thence upon
follovv'ing ages ; for it might be convenient at that
time, in the new spring of Christianity, and- till
they had engaged a considerable party, by that
means to make them parties against the gentiles^
superstition, and by way of pre-occupation to as-
certain them to their own sect when they came to
be men ; or for some other reason not transmitted
to ijs, because the question of fact itself is not
sufficiently determined. For the insinuation of
that precept of baptizing all nations, of which
children certainly are a part, does as little advan-
tage as any of the rest, because other parallel
expressions of scripture do determine and ex-
pound themselves to a sense that includes not all
persons absolutely, but of a capable condition, as
* Worship him all ye nations, praise him all ye
people of the earth,' &c. and divers more.

As for the conjecture concerning the family of
Stephanus, at the best it is but a conjecture; and
besides that, it is not proved that there were chil-
dren in the family ; yet if that were granted, it
follows not that they were baptized, because by
whole families, in Scripture, is meant all persons
of reason and age within the family. For it is
said of the ruler at Capernaum, that *he believed
and all his house.' Now, you may also suppose
that in his house were little babes — that is likely
enough — and you may suppose that they did be-
lieve too before they could understand, but that is
32

374 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

not so likely. And then the argument from bap-
tizing of Stephen's household may be allowed
just as probable; but this is unmanlike to build
upon such slight airy conjectures.

But tradition, by all means, must supply the
place of Scripture, and there is pretended a tra-
dition apostolical that infants were baptized : but
at this we are not much moved ; for we, who rely
upon the written word of God as sufficient to es-
tablish all true religion, do not value the allegation
of traditions ; and however the world goes, none
of the reformed churches can pretend this argu-
ment against this opinion, because they who reject
tradition when it is against them, must not pre-
tend it at all for them. But if we should allow
the topic to be good, yet how will it be verified?
for so far as it can yet appear, it relies wholly
upon tlie testimony of Origen, for from him Austin
had it. Now a tradition apostolical, if it be not
consigned with a fuller testimony than of one per-
son, whom all after ages have condemned of many
errors, will obtain so little reputation amongst
those who know that things have upon greater au-
thority pretended to derive from the apostles, and
yet falsely, that it will be a great argument that
he is credulous and weak that shall be determined
by so weak probation in matters of so great con-
cernment. And the truth of the business is, as
there was no command of Scripture to oblige
children to the susception of it, so the necessity
of paedobaptism vras not determined in the church
till in the eighth age after Christ; but in the year
418, in the Milevitan council, a provincial of Af-
rica, there was a canon made for paedobaptism : —
never till then ! I grant it was practised in Africa,
before that time, and they or some of them thought

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. * 375

well of it ; and though that be no argument for us
to think so, yet none of them did ever before pre-
tend it to be necessary, none to have been a pre-^
cept of the gospel. St. Austin was the first that
ever preached it to be absolutely necessary, and
it was in his heat and anger against Pelagius, who
had warmed and chafed him so in that question
that it made him innovate in other doctrines, pos-
sibly of more concernment than this. And that
although this was practised anciently in Africa,
yet that it was without an opinion of necessity,
and not often there nor at all in other places, we
have the testimony of a learned pjedobaptist,
Ludovicus Vives, who in his annotations upon St.
Austin, Be Civit, Dei, lib. i. c. 27, affirms, " that
anciently none but adults were baptized."*

But, besides that the tradition cannot be proved
to be apostolical, we have very good evidence from
antiquity, that it was the opinion of the primitive
church that infants ought not to be baptized ; and
this is clear in the sixth canon of the council of
Neocaesarea. The words are these : '• A woman
with child may be baptized when she please ; for
her baptism concerns not the child. "t The reason
of the connexion of the parts of that canon is in
the following words : '' because every one in that
confession is to give a demonstration of his own
choice and election :" meaning plainly, that if the
baptism of the mother did also pass upon the child,
it were not fit for a pregnant woman to receive
baptism; because in that sacrament tiiere being a
confession of faith, which confession suj)poses un-

* " Neminem nisi adultum antiquitus solere baptizari."
f Tlift x,uo(popouiT))C CTi tin (payTi^brSiLi oTTCTi /?cu>^TAi, oi/dev y^
x.(3/ra'va * tuctguita too rutrofjiSiia) S'la to «wt<rToy iS'idiv tuv Trfosu-

376 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

derstanding and free choice, it is not reasonably
the child should be consigned with such a mystery,
since it cannot do any act of choice or under-
standing. The canon speaks reason, and it inti-
mates a practice, which was absolutely universal
in the church, of interrogating the catechumens
concerning the articles of creed ; which is one
argument that either they did not admit infants to
baptism, or that they did prevaricate egregiously
in asking questions of them, who themselves knew
were not capable of giving answer. .j.

And to supply their incapacity by the answer
of a godfather, is but the same unreasonableness
acted with a Vv'orse circumstance.* And there is
no sensible account can be given of it ; for that
which some imperfectly murmur concerning sti-
pulations civil, performed by tutors in the name of
their pupils, is an absolute vanity. For what if
by positive constitution of the Romans such
solemnities of law are required in all stipulations,
and by indulgence are permitted in the case of a
notable benefit accruing to minors, must God be
tied, and Christian religion transact her mysteries
by proportion and compliance with the law of the
Romans r I know God might, if he would, have
appointed godfathers to give answer in behalf of
the children, and to be fidejussors for them; but
we cannot find any authority or ground that he
hath, and if he had, then it is to be supposed he
would have given them commission to have trans-
acted the solemnity with better circumstances,
and given answers with more truth. For the

* " Quid ni necesse est sponsores etiam periculo ingeri,
qui et ipsi per mortalitatem destituere promissiones suas pos-
sint, et proventu malae indolis falii ?" — Franc. Junius in notis
ad Tertul. lib. de Baptis. ap. 18.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 3/7

question is asked of believing in the present.
And if the godfathers answer in the name of the
child, '' I do believe," it is notorious they speak
false and ridiculously ; for the infant is not capable
of believing; and if he were, he were also capable
of dissenting; and how then do they know his
mind? And therefore Tertullian gives advice
that the baptism of infants should be deferred till
they could give an account of their faith,"** and the
same also is the counsel of Gregory,! bishop of
Nazianzum, although he allows them to hasten it
in case of necessity ; for though liis reason taught
him what was fit, yet he v/as overborne with the
practice and opinion of his age, whicii began to
bear too violently upon him ; and yet, in another
place, he makes mention of some to whom baptism
Was not administered, J^ v«;t<jt;)t*, " by reason of
ihfancy." To which, if w^e add that the parents
of St. Austin, St. Jerome, and St. Ambrose, al-
though they were Christian, yet did not baptize
th^ir children before they were tliirty years of age,
it will be very considerable in the example, and of
great efficacy for destroying the supposed necessity
of derivation from the apostles;

But, however, it is against the perpetual ana-
logy of Christ's doctrine to baptize infants; for
besides that Christ never gave any precept to bap-
tize them, nor ever himself nor his apostles (that
appears) did baptize any of them, all that either
he or his apostles said concerning it, requires
such previous dispositions to baptism of which
infants are not capable, and these are faith and re-

* Lib. (le Baptis. propf finem, cap. 18. " Itaque pro per-
sona? cujiisque conditioiie ac dispositions, etiain state, cunc-
tatio baptismi utilior est, praecipue tamen circa parvulos. —
Fiant Christiani cum Christum nosse potuerint."

\ Orat. xl. quaest. in S. Baptisma.
32*

S7S THE SACRED CLASSICS.

pentance. And not to instance in those innume-
rable places that require faith before this sacrament,
there needs no more but this one saying of our
blessed Savior : * He that believeth and is bap-
tized shall be saved, but lie that believeth not
shall be damned ;'* plainly thus, faith and baptism
in conjunction will bring a man to heaven ; but if
he have not faith, baptism shall do him no good.
So that if baptism be necessary then so is faith,
and much more ; for want of faith damns abso-
lutely— it is not said so of want of baptism. Now,
if this decretory sentence be to be understood of
persons of age, and if children by such an answer
(which indeed is reasonable enough) be excused
from the necessity of faith, the want of which regu-
larly does damn, then it is sottish to say the same
incapacity of reason and faith shall not excuse
from the actual susception of baptism, which is
less necessary, and to which faitii and many other
acts are necessary predispositions, when it is rea-
sonably and humanly received. The conclusion
is, that baptism is also to be deferred till the time
of faitli : and whether infants have faith or no is a
question to be disputed by persons that care not
how much they say, nor how little they prove.

1. Personal and actual faith they have none;
for they have no acts of understanding; and be-
sides, how can any man know that they have, since
he never saw any sign of it, neither v/as he told so
by any one that could tell ? 2. Some say they
have imputative faith ; but then so let the sacra-
ment be too—that is, if they have the parents'
faith or the church's, then so let baptism be im-
puted also by derivation froni them, that as ift

* Mark, xvi.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 3/9

their mothers' womb and v*hile they hang on their
breasts they live upon tlieir mothers' nourishment,
so they may upon the baptism of their parents or
their mother the church. For since faith is neces-
sary to the susception of baptism (and Ihey them-
selves confess it by striving to find out new kinds
of faith to daub the matter up), such as the faith
is such must be the sacrament; for there is no
proportion between an actual sacrament and an
imputative faith, this being in immediate and ne-
cessary order to that ; and whatsoever can be said
to ta.ke off from the necessity of actual faith, all
that and much more may be said to excuse from
the actual susception of baptism. 3. The first of
these devices was tliat of Luther and his sciiolars,
the second of Calvin and his ; and yet there is a
third device which the church of Rome teaches,
and that is, that infants have habitual faith: but
v/ho told them so ? how can they prove it ? what
revelation or reason teaches any such thing ? Are
they by this habit so much as disposed to an actual
belief, without a new master } Can an infant sent
into a Mahometan province be more confident for
Christianity when he comes to be a man, than if
he had not been baptized ? Are there any acts
precedent, concomitant, or consequent to this pre-
tended habit } This strange invention is absolutely
without art, without Scripture, reason, or authority :
but the men are to be excused unless there were a
better. But for all these stratagems, the argument
now alleged against the baptism of infants is de-
monstrative and unanswerable.

To which also this consideration may be added,
that if baptism be necessary to the salvation of
infants, upon whom is the imposition laid ? To
whom is the command given ? to the parents or to

380 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the children ? Not to the children, for thej are
not capable of a law ; nor to the parents, for then
God hath put the salvation of innocent babes into
the power of others, and infants maj be damned
for their fathers^ carelessness or malice. It follows,
that it is not necessary at all to be done to them
to whom it cannot be prescribed as a law, and in
whose behalf it cannot be reasonably intrusted to
others with the appendant necessity; and if it be
not necessary, it is certain it is not reasonable ; and
most certain it is^io where in terms prescribed, and
therefore it is to be presumed that it ought to be
understood and administered according as other
precepts are, with reference to the capacity of the
subject and the reasonableness of the thing.

For I consider that the baptizing of infants does
rush us upon such inconveniences which in other
questions we avoid like rocks, which will appear if
we discourse thus.

Either baptism produces spiritual effects or it
produces them not : if it produces not any, why is
such contention about it ? what are \te tlie nearer
heaven if we are baptized ? and if it be neglected,
what are we the farther of r But if (as without
all peradventure all the psedobaptists will say)
baptism does do a work upon the soul, producing
spiritual benefits and advantages, these advantages
are produced by the external work of the sacrament
alone, or by that as it is helped by the co-operation
and predispositions of the suscipient.

If by the external work of the sacrament alone,
how does this differ from the opus operaiiim, of the
papists, save that it is worse ? For they say the
sacrament does not produce its effect but in a sus-
cipient, disposed by all requisites and due prepara-
tives of piety, faith, and repentance ; though in a

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 381

subject so disposed, they say the sacrament by its
own virtue does it, but this opinion says, it does
it of itself without the help or so much as the co-
existence of any condition but the mere reception.

But if the sacrament does not do its work alone,
but per modum recipientis (according to the predis-
positions of the suscipient), then because infants
can neither hinder it nor do any thing to further it,
it does them no benefit at all. And if any man runs
for succor to that exploded refuge, that infants
have faith, or any other inspired habit of I know
not what or how, we desire no more advantage in
the world than that they are constrained to an
answer without revelation, against reason, common
sense, and all the experience in the world.

The sum of the argument, in short, is this, though
under another representment : —

Either baptism is a mere ceremony, or it implies
a duty on our part. If it be a ceremony only, how
does it sanctify us or make the comers thereunto
perfect? If it implies a duty on our part, how
then can children receive it, who cannot do duty
at all ?

And indeed this way of ministration makes bap-
tism to be wholly an outward duty; a work of the
law, a carnal ordinance : it makes us adhere to the
letter without regard of the spirit, to be satisfied
with shadows, to return to bondage, to relinquish
the mysteriousness, the substance, and spirituality
of the gospel : wliich argument is of so much the
more consideration because, under the spiritual
covenant, or the gospel of grace, if the mystery
goes not before the symbol (which it does when
the symbols are seals and consignations of the
grace, as it is said the sacraments are), yet it al-
ways accompanies it, but never follows in order

S82 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

of time; and this is clear in the perpetual analogy
of Holy Scripture.

For baptism is never propounded, mentioned, or
enjoined, as a means of remission of sins, or of
eternal life, but something of duty, choice, and
sanctity is joined with it, in order to production of
the end so mentioned : " Knew ye not that as many
as are baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into
his death ?"* There is the mystery and the symbol
together, and declared to be perpetually united,
oaoi iCa.'nio-Biiuiv, " SO many of us as were baptized."
All of us who were baptized into one were bap-
tized into the other. Not only into the name of
Christ, but into his deatli also. But the meaning
of this, as it is explained in the following words of
St. Paul, makes much for our purpose ; for to be
baptized into his death signifies " to be buried with
him in baptism, that as Christ rose from the dead
we also should walk in newness of life.'*t That is
the full mystery of baptism ; for being. baptized
into his deatii, or which is all one in the next words,
iv ofAota/uxri tsu d-sivctrou ctvrov, " into the likencss of his
death," cannot go alone ; " if we be so planted into
Christ, we shall be partakers of his resurrection, "J
and that is not here instanced in precise reward,
but in exact duty; for all this is nothing but *' cru-
cifixion of the old man, a destroying the body of
sin, that we no longer serve sin."§

This indeed is truly to be baptized, both in the
symbol and the mystery ; whatsoever is less tlian
this is but the symbol only, a mere ceremony, an
opus operatwn, a dead letter, an empty shadow,
an instrument without an agent to manage or force
to actuate it.

* Rom. vi. 3. t Roni- iv. 4. f Verse 5. § Verse 6.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. S&S

Plainer jet : " Whosoever are baptized into Christ
have put on Christ, have put ou the new man :" but
to put on this new man is ^-to be formed in right-
eousness, and holiness, and truth." This whole
argument is the very words of St. Paul ; the major
proposition is dogmatically determined, Gal. iii. 27 ;
the minor in Ephes. iv. 24. The conclusion, then,
is obvious, that they who are not formed new in
righteousness, and holiness, and truth — i^i\^y who,
remaining in the present incapacities, cannot walk
in newness of life — they have not been baptized
into Christ, and then they have but one member of
the distinction used by St. Peter, they have that
baptism "which is a putting away the filth of the
flesh," but they liave not that baptism " which is
the answer of a good conscience towards God,""^
which is the only "baptism that saves us:" and
this is the case of children ; and then the case is
thus : —

As infants by the force of nature cannot put
themselves into a supernatural condition (and
therefore, say the psedobaptists, they need bap-
tism to put them into it), so, if they be baptized
before the use of reason, before the works of the
Spirit, before the operations of grace, before they
can throw off '' the works of darkness, and live in
rigliteousness and newness of life," they are never
the nearer : from the pains of hell they shall be
saved by the mercies of God and their own inno-
cence, though they die in a state of nature, and
baptism will carry them no further. For that bap-
tism that saves us is not the only washing with
water of which only children are capable, but the
answer of a good conscience towards God ; of which

* 1 Pet. iii. 21.

384 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

they are not capable till the use of reason, till they
know to choose the good and refuse the evil.

And from thence I consider anew that all vows
made by persons under others' names, stipulations
made by minors^ are not valid till they, by a super
vening act, after they are of sufficient age, do ratify?
them. Why, then, may not infants as well make
the vow de novo as de novo ratify that which was
made for them ah cmtirnio, when they come to years
of choice ? * If the infant vow be invalid till the
manly confirmation, why were it not as good they
staid to make it till that time, before which, if they
do make it, it is to no purpose ? This would be
considered.

And in conclusion : our way is the surer way,
for not to baptize children till they can give an
account of their faith is the aiost proportionable to
an act of reaso-n and humanity ; and it can have no
danger in it ; for to say that infants may be damned
for want of baptism (a thing which is not in their
power to acquire, they being persons not yet capa-
ble of a law), is to affirm that of God which we
dare not say of any wise and good man. Certainly
it is much derogatory to God's justice, and a plain
defiance to the infinite reputation of his goodness.

And therefore whoever will pertinaciously per-'
sist in this opinion of the psedobaptists, and
practise it accordingly, they pollute the blood of
the everlasting testament, they dishonor and make
a pageantry of the sacrament, th'^^y ineffectually
represent a sepulchre into the death of Christ, and
please themselves in a sign without effect, making
baptism like the fig-tree in the gospel, full of leaves,
but no fruit ; and they invocate the Holy Ghost in

* Vide Eraamum in praefat. ad Anriotat. in Matth,

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 385

vain, doing as if one should call upon him to illu-
minate a stone or a tree.

Thus far the anabaptists may argue ; and men
have disputed against them with so much weakness
and confidence, that they have been encouraged in
their error* more by the accidental advantages we
have given them by our weak arguings, than by
any truth of their cause, or excellency of their wit.
But the use I make of it as to our present question
is this : that since there is no direct impiety in the
opinion, nor any that is apparently consequent to
it, and they with so much probability do, or may,
pretend to true persuasion, they are, with all means
Christian, fair, and humane, to be redargued or
instructed; but if they cannot be persuaded, they
must be left to God, who knows every degree of
every man's understanding, all his weaknesses and
strengths, what impress each argument makes upon
his spint, and how irresistible every reason is ; and
he alone iud";es his innocencvand sinceritv. And
for that question, I think there is so much to be
pretended against that which I believe to be the
truth, that there is much more truth than evidence
on our side ; and therefore we may be confident
as for our own particulars, but not too forward
peremptorily to prescribe to others, much less to
damn, or to kill, or to persecute them that only in
this particular disagree.

* Ov<t iv Tii; uivTcey S'oy/u.a.Tt nv kt^uv €;^ovt£?' aw' ev roK
ijjumpm (Tct^poic TAvrrtv ^-upvovTi?, as Nazianzen observes of the
case of the church in his time

386 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SECTION XIX.

TJiat there may be no Toleration of Doctnnes incon.-
consistent ivith Piety or the Public Good,

But then for their capital opinion, with all its
branches, that it is not lawful for princes to put
malefactors to death, nor to take up defensive arms,
nor to minister an oath, nor to contend in judg-
ment, it is not to be disputed with such liberty as
the former. For although it be part of that doctrine
which Clemens Alexandrinus says was delivered
by private tradition from the apostles, *that it is
not allowable for Christians to go to law, neither
before the heathen nor believers; and that a
righteous man ought not to take an oath ;* and the
other part seems to be warranted by the eleveiith
canon oftheNicene council, which enjoins penance
to them that take arras after their conversion to
Christianity; yet either these authorities are to be
slighted, or be made receptive of any interpreta-
tion, rather than the commonwealth be disarmed
of its necessary supports, and all laws made
ineffectual and impertinent : for the interest of the
republic and the well-being of bodies politic is not
to depend upon the nicety of our imaginations, or
the fiincies of any peevish or mistaken priests ; and
there is no reason a prince should ask John-a-
Brunck whether his understanding will give him

* "Non licere Christianis contendere in judicio, nee
coram gentibus, nee coram Sanctis, et perfectum non debere
jnrare." — Lib. vii. Stromat.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 387

leave to reign, and be a king. Nay, suppose there
were divers places of Scripture which did seem-
ingly restrain the political use of the sword, vet
since the avoiding a personal inconvenience hath
bj all men been accounted sufficient reason to
expound Scripture to any sense rather than the
literal, which infers an unreasonable inconvenience
(and therefore the pulling out an eye and the
cutting off an liand is expounded by mortifying a
vice, and killing a criminal habit), much rather
must the allegations against the power of the
sv/ord endure any sense, rather than it should be
thought that Christianity should destroy that which
is the only instrument of justice, the restraint of
vice and support of bodies politic. It is certain
that Christ and his apostles, and Christian religion,
did comply with the most absolute goverment, and
tlie most imperial that was then in the world ; and
it could not have been at all endured in the world
if it had not ; for, indeed, the world itself could not
last in regular and orderly communities of men,
but be a perpetual confusion, if princes and the
supreme power in bodies politic vv-erc not armed
vnth a coercive power to punish malefactors. The
public necessity and universal experience of all the
world convinces those men of beinir most unrea-
sonable that make such pretences, which destroy
all laws and all communities, and the bands of
civil societies, and leave it arbitrary to every vain
or vicious person, M'hether men shall be safe, or
laws be established, or a murderer hanged, oi
princes rule. So tlmt, in this case, men are not
so much to dispute with particular arguments as
to consider the interest and concernment of
kingdoms and public societies ; for the religion of
Jesus Christ is the best establisher of the felicity

388 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

of private persons and of public communities ; it
is a religion that is prudent and innocent, hu-
mane, and reasonable, and brought infinite advan-
tages to mankind, but no inconvenience, nothing
that is unnatural, or unsociable, or unjust. And
if it be certain that this world cannot be governed
Avithout laws, and laws without a compulsory sig-
nify nothing, then it is certain that it is no good
religion that teaches doctrine whose consequents
will destroy all government ; and therefore it is
as much to be rooted out as any thing that is the
greatest pest and nuisance to the public interest.
And that we may guess at the purposes of the men
and the inconvenience of such doctrine, these men
that did first intend by their doctrine to disarm
all princes and bodies politic, did themselves take
up arms to establish their wild and impious fancy ;
and, indeed, that prince or commonwealth that
should be persuaded by tliein, would be exposed
to all the insolences of foreigners, and all mutinies
of the teachers themselves ; and the governors of
the people could not do that duty they owe to
their people of protecting them from the rapine
and malice which will be in the world as long as
the world is. And therefore here they are to be
restrained from preaching such doctrine, if they
mean to preserve their government ; and the neces-
sity of the thing will justify the lawfulness of the
thing. If they think it to themselves, that it can-
not be helped so long as it is innocent, as much as
concerns the public ; but if they preach it, they
may be accounted authors of all the consequent
inconveniences, and punished accordingly. No
doctrine that destroys government is to be endured
—for although those doctrines are not always good
that serve the private ends of princes or the secret

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 389

designs of state, which, by reason of some accidents
or imperfections of men, may be promoted by that
which is false and pretending ; yet no doctrine can
be good that does not comply with the formality
of government itself, and the well-being of bodies
politic : *' Cato, when an augur, ventured to say
that the omens were always in favor of what was
for the public good, and against whatever was the
reverse."* Religion is to meliorate the condition
of a people, not to do it disadvantage ; and there-
fore those doctrines that inconvenience the public
are no parts of good religion. The safety of the
state is a necessary consideration in the permis-
sion of prophesyings ; for according to the true,
solid, and prudent ends of the republic, so is the
doctrine to be permitted or restrained, and the men
that preach it, according as they are good subjects
and right commonwealth's men ; for religion is a
thing superinduced to temporal government, and
the church is an addition of a capacity to a com-
monwealth, and therefore is in no sense to disserve
the necessity and just interests of that to which it
is superadded for its advantage and conservation.
And thus, by a proportion to the rules of these
instances, all their other doctrines are to have their
judgment, as concerning toleration or restraint ;
ibr all are either speculative or practical ; they are
consistent with the public ends or inconsistent, they
teach impiety or they are innocent, and they are
to be permitted or rejected accordingly. For in
the question of toleration, the foundation of faith,
good life and government is to be secured : in all
other cases, the former considerations are effectual.

* " Augur cum esset Cato, dicere ausus est, optimis aus-
piciis ea geri quae pro reipublicae salute gererentur; quae
contra rempublicam fierent, contra auspicia fieri." — Cicero
de Senectute.

S90 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SECTION XX.

How far the Religion of the Church of Rome is
tolerable.

But now, concerning the religion of the church
of Rome (which was the other instance I pro-
mised to consider), we will proceed another way,
and not consider the truth or falsity of the doc-
trines ; for that is not the best way to determine
this question concerning permitting their religion
or assemblies ; because that a thing is not true, is
not argument sufficient to conclude that he that
believes it true is not to be endured ; but we are
to consider what inducements there are that pos-
sess the understanding of those men, whether
they be reasonable and innocent, sufficient to
abuse or persuade wise and good men, or whether
the doctrines be commenced upon design, and
managed with impiety, and then have effects not
to be endured.

And here, first I consider that those doctrines
tiiat have had long continuance and possession in
the church, cannot easily be supposed in the pre-
sent professors to bs a design, since they have
received it from so many ages ; and it is not likely
that all ages should have the same purposes, or
that the same doctrine should serve tlie several
ends of divers ages. But, however, long prescrip-
tion is a prejudice oftentimes so insupportable that
it cannot with many arguments be retrenched, as
relying upon these grounds, that truth is more

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 391

certain than falsehood; that God would not for so
many ages forsake his church, and leave her in
error; that whatsoever is new is not only suspi-
cious but false; which are suppositions pious and
plausible enough. And if the church of Rome
had communicated infants so long as she hath
prayed to saints or baptized infants, the commu-
nicating would have been believed v/ith as much
confidence as the other articles are, and tlie dis-
sentients with as much impatience rejected. But
this consideration is to be enlarged upon all those
particulars, which as they are apt to abuse the
persons of the men and amuse their understand-
ings, so they are instruments of tlieir excuse; and
by making their errors to be invincible, and their
opinions, though false, yet not criminal, make it
also to be an effect of reason and charity to permit
the men a liberty of their conscience, and let them
answer to God for themselves and their own
opinions : such as are the beauty and splendor of
their church; their pompous service; the state-
liness and solemnity of the hierarchy ; their name
of Catholic, which they suppose their own due,
and to concern no other sect of Christians; the
antiquity of many of their doctrines ; the con-
tinual succession of their bishops ; their immediate
derivation from the apostles ; their title to succeed
St. Peter ; the supposal and pretence of his per-
sonal prerogatives ; the advantages which the con-
junction of the imperial seat with their episcopal
hath brought to that see ; the flatteiing expressions
of minor bishops, which by being old records, have
obtained credibility; the multitude and variety of
people which are of their persuasion; apparent
consent with antiquity in many ceremonials which
other churches have rejected ; and a pretended.

392 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

and sometimes an apparent consent with some
'elder ages in many matters doctrinal ; the advan-
tage which is derived to them by entertaining some
personal opinions of the fathers, which they with
infinite clamors see to be cried up to be a doc-
trine of the church of tliat time; tlie great consent
of one part with another in that which most of
them affirm to be matter of faith ; the great dif-
ferences which are commenced amongst their ad-
versaries, abusing the Liberty of Prophesying
unto a very great licentiousness ; their happiness
of being instruments in converting divers nations;
the advantages of monarcliical government, the
i)enefit of which as well as tlic inconveniences
(which tliough they feel they consider not) they
daily do enjoy; the piety and th^ austerity of
their religious orders of men and women ; the
single life of their priests and bisliops ; the riches
of their church; the severity of their fasts and
their exterior observances; tlse great reputation
of their first bishops for faith and sanctity ; the
known holiness of some of those persons whose
institutes the religious persons pretend to imitate ;
their miracles, false or true, substantial or ima-
ginary; the casualties and accidents that have
happened to their adversaries, which, being chances
of humanity, are attributed to several causes, ac-
cording as the fancies of men and their interests
are pleased or satisfied ; the temporal felicity of
their professors; the oblique arts and indirect
proceedings of some of tliose who departed from
them ; and amongst many other things, the names
of heretic and schismatic, which they with infinite
pertinacy fasten upon all that disagree from tliern
—these things, and divers others, may very easily
persuade persons of much reason and more piely,

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 393

to retain that which they know to have been the
religion of their forefathers, which had actual pos-
session and seizure of men's understandings be-
fore the opposite professions had a name ; and so
much the rather, because religion hath more ad-
vantages upon the fancy and affections than it hath
upon philosophy and severe discourses, and there-
fore is the more easily persuaded upon such
grounds as these, which are more apt to amuse
than to satisfy the understanding.

Secondly, if we consider the doctrines tliem-
selves, we shall find them to be superstructures ill
built and worse managed, but yet they keep the
foundation ; they build upon God in Jesus Christ ;
they profess the apostles' creed ; they retain faith
and repentance as the supporters of all our hopes
of heaven, and believe many more truths than can
be proved to be of simple and original necessity
to salvation ; and therefore all the wisest person-
ages of the adverse party allowed to them possi-
bility of salvation, whilst their errors are not
faults of their will, but weaknesses and decep-
tions of the understanding;. So that there is no-
thing in the foundation of faith that can reasonably
hinder them to be permitted. The foundation of
faith stands secure enough for all their vain and
unhandsome superstructures.

But then, on the other side, if we take account
of their doctrines as they relate to good life, or
are consistent or inconsistent with civil o-overn-
ment, we shall have other considerations.

For, thirdly, I consider that many of their doc-
trines do accidentally teach or lead to ill life ; and
it will appear to any man that considers the
result of these propositions. Attrition (which is
a low and imperfect degree of sorrow for sin, or.

394 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

as others say, a sorrow for sin commenced upou
any reason of temporal hope, or fear, or desire, or
anything else) is a sufficient disposition for a man
in the sacrament of penance to receive absolution,
and be justified before God, by taking away the
guilt of all his sins and the obligation to eternal
pains. So that already the fear of hell is quite
removed, upon conditions so easy that many men
take more pains to get a groat, than by this doc-
trine we are obliged to for the curing and acquit-
ing all the greatest sins of a whole life of the
most vicious person in the world ; and but that
they affright their people v/ith a fear of purgatory,
or with the severity of penances, in case they will
not venture for purgatory (for by their doctrine
they may choose or refuse either), there would be
nothing in their doctrine or discipline to impede
and slacken their proclivity to sin. But then
they have as easy a cure for that too, with a little
more charge sometimes, but most commonly with
less trouble. For there are so many confraterni-
ties, so many privileged churches, altars, monas-
teries, cemeteries, offices, festivals, and so free a
concession of indulgences appendant to all these,
and a thousand fine devices to take away the fear
of purgatory, to commute or expiate penances,
that in no sect of men do they with more ease
and cheapness reconcile a wicked life with the
hopes of heaven, than in the Roman communion.
And, indeed, if men would consider things upon
their true grounds, the church of Rome should be
more reproved upon doctrines that infer ill life,
than upon such as are contrariant to faith. For
false superstructures do not always destroy faith;
but many of the doctrines they teach, if they were
prosecuted to the utmost issue, would destroy

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 395

good life. And therefore mj quarrel with the
church of Rome is greater .and stronger upon
such points Vv'hich are not usually considered, than
it is upon the ordinary disputes which have, to no
very great purpose, so much disturbed Christen-
dom ; and I am more scandalized at her for teach-
ing the sufficiency of attrition in the sacrament,
for indulging penances so frequently, for remitting
all discipline, for making so great a part of religion
to consist in externals and ceremonials, for put-
ting more force and energy, and exacting with
more severity the commandments of men than the
precepts of justice and internal religion ; lastly,
besides many other things, for promising heaven
to persons after a wicked life, upon their imperti-
nent cries and ceremonials, transacted by the
priest and the dying person : I confess, I wsh tlie
zeal of Christendom were a little more active
against these and the like doctrines, and that men
would write and live more earnestly against them
than as yet they have done.

But then, what influence this just zeal is to
have upon the persons of the professors is another
consideration ; for as the Pharisees did preach
well and lived ill, and therefore were to be heard,
not imitated, so if these men live well though they
teach ill, they are to be imitated, not heard : their
doctrines by all means. Christian and human, are
to be discountenanced, but their persons tolerated
so far (eatenus) ; their profession and decrees to
be rejected and condemned, but the persons to be
permitted, because by their good lives they con-
fute their doctrines ; that is, they give evidence
that they think no evil to be consequent to such
opinions; and if they did, that they live good
lives is argument sufficient that they would them-

396 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

selves cast the first stone against their own opi-
nions, if thej thought them guilty of such misde-
meanors.

Fourthly: but if we consider their doctrines in
relation to government and public societies of
men, then, if they prove faulty, they arc so much
the more intolerable by how much the consequents
are of greater danger and malice. Such doctrines
as these — the pope may dispense with all oaths
taken to God or man ; he may absolve subjects
from their allegiance to their natural prince ; faith
is not to be kept with heretics ; heretical princes
maybe slain by their subjects — these propositions
are so depressed, and do so immediately com-
municate with matter and the interests of men,
that they are of the same consideration with mat-
ters of fact, and are to be handled accurdingl}'.
To other doctrines ill life may be consequent, but
the connexion of the antecedent and the con-
sequent is not (peradvcnture) perceived or ac-
knowledged by him that believes the opinion with
no o-reater confid(Mice than he disavows the effect
and issue of it; but in these the ill eft'ect is the
direct profession and purpose of the opinion ; and
therefore the man and the man's opinion is to be
dealt withal, just as the matter of fact is to be
judged; for it is an immediate, a perceived, a
direct event, and the very purpose of the opinion.
Now these opinions are a direct overthrow to all
human society and mutual commerce, a destruc-
tion of government, and of the laws, and duty,
and subordination which we owe to princes ; and
therefore those men of the church of Rome that
do hold them, and preach them, cannot pretend to
the excuses of innocent opinions and hearty per-
suasion, to the weakness of humanity, and the

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 397

difficulty of things ; for God hath not left those
truths, which are necessary for conservation of
public societies of men, ^o intricate and obscure,
but that every one that is honest and desirous to
understand his duty will certainly know that no
Christian truth destroys a man's being sociable,
and a member of the body politic, co-operating to
the conservation of the whole, as well as of itself.
However, if it might happen that men should
sincerely err in such plain matters of fact (for
there are fools enough in the world), yet if he
hold liis peace, no man is to persecute or punish
him j for then it is mere opinion, which comes not
under political cognizance ; that is, that cogni-
zance which only can punisli corporally. But if
he preaches it he is actually a traitor, or seditious,
or author of perjury, or a destroyer of human
society, respectively to the nature of the doctrine ;
and the preaching such doctrines cannot claim the
privilege and immunity of a mere opinion, because
it is as much matter of fact as any the actions of
his disciples and confidents ; and therefore in
such cases is not to be permitted, but judged ac-
cording to the nature of the effect it hath or may
have upon the actions of men.

Fifthly: but lastly, in matters merely specula-
tive, the case is wholly altered, because the body
politic, which only may lawfully use the sword, is
not a competent judge of such matters which have
not direct influence upon the body politic, or upon
the lives and manners of men, as they are parts
of a community (not but that princes, or judges
temporal, may have as much ability as others, but
by reason of the incompetency of the authority) ;
and Gallio spoke wisely when he discoursed thus
to the Jews : * If it were a matter of wrong; or

398 THE SACRED CLAS'siCS.

wicked lewdness, 0 je Jews, reason would that I
should hear you } but if it be a question of words
and names, and of jour law, look ye to it; for I
will be no judge of such matters.'* The man
spoke excellent reason, for the cognizance of these
things did appertain to men of the other robe ; but
the ecclesiastical power, which only is competent
to take notice of such questions, is not of capacity
to use the temporal sword or corporal inflictions.
The mere doctrines and opinions of men are
things spiritual, and therefore not cognizable by
a temporal autl\ority; and the ecclesiastical au-
thority, which is to take cognizance, is itself so
spiritual that it cannot inflict any punishment
corporal.

And it is not enough to say, that when the ma-
gistrate restrains the preaching such opinions, if
any man preaches them he may be punished (and
then it is not for his opinion but his disobedience
that he is punished) ; for the temporal power ought
not to restrain prophecyings, where the public
peaceand interestis not certainly concerned. And
therefore it is not sufficient to excuse him whose
law, in that case, being by an incompetent power,
made a scruple where there was no sin.

And under this consideration come very many
articles of the church of Rome, which are wholly
speculative, which do not derive upon practice,
which begin in the understanding and rest there,
and have no influence upon life and government,
but very accidentally, and by a great many re-
moves ; and therefore are to be considered only so
far as to guide men in their persuasions, but have
no effect upon the persons of men, their bodies, or

* Acts xviii. 14.

THE LIBERTY OF TROPHESYIXG. 599

their temporal condition : I instance in two, prayer
for the dead and the doctrine of transubstantiation ;
these two to be instead of all the rest.

For the first, this discourse is to suppose it false,
and we are to direct our proceedings accordingly;
and therefore I shall not need to urcje with how
many fair words and gay pretences this doctrine
is set off, apt either to cozen or instruct the con-
science of tlie wisest, according as it is true or false
respectively. But w^e find (says tlie Romanist) in
the history of the Maccabees, that the Jews did
pray and make offerings for the dead (which also
appears by other testimonies, and by their form of
prayers still extant, which they used in tlie cap-
tivity) : it is very considerable, that since our
blessed Savior did reprove all the evil doctrines
and traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees, and
did argue concerning the dead and the resurrec-
tion against the Sadduces, yet he spake no word
against this public practice, but left it as he found
it, which he who ciime to declare to us all the will
of his Father would not have done if it had not
been innocent, pious, and full of charity. To
which, by way of consociation, if we add that St.
Paul did pray for Onesiphorus, " that G(k1 would
show him a mercy in that day" •' — that is, accord-
ing to the style of the New Testament, the day of
judgment — the result will be, that although it be
probable that Onesiphorus at that time was dead
(because in his salutations he salutes his household,
without naming him who was the major domo,
against his custom of salutations in otlier places),
yet, besides this, the prayer was for such a blessing
to him whose demonstration and reception could

* 2 Tim. i. IS

400 'TKK SACRED CLASSICS.

not be but alter death ; which implies clearly, that
then there is a need of mercy ; and by consequence
the dead people, even to the day of judgment
inclusively, are the subject of a misery, the object
of God's mercy, and therefore fit to be commemo-
rated in the duties of our piety and cJiarity, and
that we are to recommend their condition to (jod^
not only to give them more glory in the reunion,
but to pity them to such purposes in which they
need ; which because they are not revealed to us
in particular, it hinders us not in recommending
the persons in particular to God's mercy, but
should rather excite our charity and devotion; for
it being certain that they have a need of mercy,
and it being uncertain how great their need is, it
may concern the prudence of charity to be the
more earned, as not knowing the greatness of their
necessity.

And if there should be any uncertainty in these
arguments, yet its having been the universal prac
tice of the church of God in all places and in all
ages, till within these hundred years, is a very
great inducement for any member of the church to
believe that in the first traditions of Christianity
and the institutions a.postolical, there was nothing
delivered against the practice, but very much to
insinuate or enjoin it ; because the practice of it was
at the first, and was universal. And if any man
shall doubt of this, he shows nothing but that he is
ignorant of the records of the church, it being
plain in Tertullian* and St. Cypriant (who were
the eldest writers of the Latin church), that in their
times it was of old tlie custom of the cliurch to
pray for the souls of the faithful departed, in the

* De Corona Milit. c. 3, et De Monogam. c. 10. f Ep. 66

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIKG. 401

dreadful mysteries ; and it was an institution
apostolical (says one of them), and so transmitted
to the following ages of the church ; and when
once it began upon slight and discontent to be
contested against by Aerius, the man was pre-
sently condemned for a lieretic, as appears in
Epiphanius.

But I am not to consider the arguments for tl\e
doctrine itself, although the probability and fair
pretence of them may help to excuse such persons
wlio upon these or the like grounds do heartily
l)elieve it. But I am to consider that, whether it
be true or false, there is no manner of malice in it ;
and at the worst it is but a wrong error upon the
right side of charity, and concluded against by its
adversaries upon the confidence of such arguments,
which possibly are not so probable as the grounds
pretended for it.

And if the same judgment might be made of
anymore of their doctrines, I think it were better
men were not furious in the condemning such
ijucstions, which either they understood not upon
the grounds of their proper arguments, or at least
consider not, as subjected in the persons, and
lessened by circumstances, by tiie innocency c(
the event, or other prudential considerations.

But the other article is harder to be judged of,
and hath made greater stirs in Christendom, and
hath been dashed with more impetuous objections,
and such as do more trouble the question of tolera-
tion. For if the doctrine of transubstantiation
be false (as upon much evidence we believe it is),
then it is acciised of introducing idolatry, giving
divine worship to a creature, adoring of bread and
wine, and then comes in the precept of God to

402 THK SACRED CLASSICS.

the Jews, that those prophets who persuaded to
idolatry should be slain.'-

But here we must deliberate, for it is concern-
ing the lives of men ; and yet a little deliberation
may suffice, for idolatry is a forsaking the true
God, and giving divine worship to a creature or
to an idol ; that is to an imaginary god, who liath
no foundation in essence or existence ; and is that
kind of superstition which by divines is called the
superstition of an undue object. Now it is evi-
dent that the object of their adoration (that which
is represented to them in their minds, tlieir
thoughts, and purposes, and by which God princi-
pally, if not solely, takes estimate of human ac-
tions) in the blessed sacrament, is the only true
and eternal God, hypostatically joined with his
holy humanity ; which humanity they believe ac-
tually present under the veil of the sacramental
signs. And if they thouglit him not present, they
are so far from worshiping the bread in this case,
that themselves profess it to be idolatry to do so,
which is a demonstration that their soul hath
nothing in it that is idolatrical. If their confi-
dence and fanciful opinion hath engaged them
upon so great mistake (as without doubt it hath),
yet the will hath nothing in it, but what is a great
enemy to idolatry, ''and there is nothing damn-
able which is independent of the will."t And
although they have done violence to all philosophy
and the reason of man, and undone and canceled
the principles of two or three sciences to bring in
this article, yet they have a divine revelation
whose literal and grammatical sense^ if that sense

* Deut. xiii.

I " Et nihil ardet in inferno nisi propria voluntas "

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 403

were intended, would warrant them to do violence
to all the sciences in the circle ; and, indeed, that
transubstantiation is openly and violently against
natural reason, is an argument to make them dis-
believe, who believe the mystery of the trinity in
all those niceties of explication which are in the
school (and which now-a-days pass for the doc-
trine of the church); with as much violence to the
principles of natural and supernatural philosophy
as can be imagined to be in the point of transub-
stantiation.

1. But for the article itself, we all say that
Christ is there present some w^ay or other extra-
ordinary ; and it will not be amiss to worship him
at that time, when he gives himself to us in so
mysterious a manner, and with so great advan-
tages ; especially since the whole office is a con-
sociation of divers actions of religion and divine
worship. Now, in all opinions of those men who
tliink it an act of religion to communicate and to
offer, a divine worship is <>;iven to Clirist, and is
transmitted to him by meditation of that action
and that sacrament; and it is no more in the
church of Rome, but that they differ and mistake
infinitely in the manner of his presence; which
error is wholly seated in the understanding, and
does not communicate with the will. For all
agree that the divinity and the humanity of the
Son of God is the ultimate and adequate object
of divine adoration, and that it is incommunicable
to any creature whatsoever ; and before they ven-
ture to pass an act of adoration, they believe the
bread to be annihilated or turned into his sub-
stance who may lawfully be worshiped ; and they
who have these thoughts are as much enemies of

404 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

idolatry as they that understand better how to
avoid that inconvenience which is supposed to be
the crime, which they formally hate, and we ma-
terially avoid : this consideration was concerning
the doctrine itself.

2. And now, for any danger to men's persons
for suffering such a doctrine ; this I shall say, tliat
if they who do it, are not formally guilty of idol-
atry, there is no danger that they whom they per-
suade to it should be guilty ; and what persons
soever believe it to be idolatry to worship the sa-
crament, while that persuasion remains will never
be brought to it, there is no fear of that : and he
that persuades them to do it by altering their per-
suasions and beliefs, does no hurt but altering the
opinions of the men, and abusing their under-
standings; but when they believe it to be no idol-
atry, then their so believing it is sufficient secu-
rity from that crime, which hath so great a tincture
and residency in the will that from thence only it
hath its being criminal.

S. However, if it were idolatry, I think the
precept of God to the Jews, of killing false and
idolatrous prophets, will be no warrant for Chris-
tians so to do. For in the case of the apostles
and the men of Samaria, when James and John
would have called for fire to destroy them, even
as Elias did under Moses's law, Christ distin-
guished the spirit of Elias from his own spirit, and
taught them a lesson of greater sweetness, and
consigned this truth to all ages of the church, that
such severity is not consistent with the meekness
which Christ by his example and sermons hath
made a precept evangelical ; at most it was but a
judicial law, and no more of argument to make it

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 405

necessary to us than the Mosaical precepts of put-
ting adulterers to death, and trying the accused
persons by the waters of jealousy.

And thus, in these two instances, I have given
account what is to be done in toleration of diver-
sity of opinions ; the result of which is principally
this ; let the prince and tlie secular power have a
care the commonwealth be safe. For whether
such and such a sect of Christians be to be per-
mitted, is a question rather political than religious ;
for as for the concernments of religion, these in-
stances have furnished us with sufficient to deter-
mine us in our duties as to that particular, and by
one of these all particulars may be judged.

And now it were a strange inhumanity to permit
Jews in a commonwealth, whose interest is served
by their inhabitation, and yet, upon equal grounds
of state and policy, not to permit differing sects
of Christians ; for although possibly there is more
danger men's persuasions should be altered in a
commixture of divers sects of Christians, yet
there is not so much danger when they are changed
from Christian to Christian, as if they be turned
from Christian to Jew, as many are daily in Spain
and Portugal.

And this is not to be excused by saying the
church hath no power over them qui foris sunt,
'• who are without," as Jews are. For it is true the
church in the capacity of spiritual regiments, hath
nothing to do with them, because they are not her
diocese ; yet the prince hath to do with them, when
they are subjects of his regiment; they may not
be excommunicate any more than a stone may be
killed, because they are not of the Christian com-
munion, but they are living persons, parts of the
commonwealth, infinitely deceived in their reli-

406 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

gion, and very dangerous if they offer to persuade
men to their opinions, and are the greatest enemies
of Christ, whose honor and the interest of whose
service a Christian prince is bound with all his
power to maintain. And when the question is
of punishing disagreeing persons with death, the
church hath equally nothing to do with them both,
for she hath nothing todo with the temporal sword ;
but the prince, whose subjects equally Christians
and Jews are, hath equal power over their persons ;
for a Christian is no more a subject than a Jew is ;
the prince hath upon them both the same power of
life and death ; so that the Jew by being no Chi-is-
tian is not foris, or any more an exempt person lor
his body or his life than the Christian is. And
yet in all churches where the secular power hath
temporal reason to tolerate the Jews, they arc tole-
rated without any scruple in religion ; which thing
is of more consideration, because the Jews are
direct blasphemers of the Son of God, and blas-
phemy by their own law, the law of Moses, is
made capital, and might with greater reason be
inflicted upon them who acknowledge its obligation
than urged upon Christians as an authority^ ena-
bling princes to put them to death who are accused
of accidental and consequentive blasphemy and
idolatry respectively, which yet they hate and dis-
avow with much zeal and heartiness of persuasion.
And I cannot yet learn a reason why we shall
not be more complying with them who are of the
household of faith : for at least they are children,
though they be but rebellious children (and if they
were not, what hath the mother to do with then\
any more than with the Jews ?) — they are in some
relation or habitude of the family, for they are
consigned with the same baptism, profess the same

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 407

faith delivered by the apostles, are erected in the
same hope, and look for the same glory to be re-
vealed to them at the coming of their common
Lord and Savior, to whose service, according to
their understanding, they have vov/ed themselves:
and if the disagreeing persons be to be esteemed as
heathens and publicans, yet not worse, " have no
company with them," that is the worst that is to
be done to such a man in St. Paul's judgment :
" yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish
him as a brother."

408 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

SECTION XXI.

Of the Diity of particular Churches in allowing
Communion.

From these premises we ai'e easily instructed
concerning the lawfulness or duty respectively of
Christian communion, which is differently to be
considered in respect of particular churches to
eacli other, and of particular men to particular
churches : for as for particular churches, they are
bound to allow communion to all those that pro-
fess the same faith upon which the apostles did
give communion ; for whatsoever preserves us as
members of the church, gives us title to the com-
munion of saints ; and whatsoever faith or belief
that is to which God hath promised heaven, tJuit
faith makes us members of the catholic churcii.
Since, therefore, the judicial acts of the church
are then most prudent and religious when they
nearest imitate the example and piety of God, to
make the way to heaven straiter than God made,
it, or to deny to communicate with those whom
God will vouchsafe to be united, and to refuse our
charity to those who have the same faith, because
tJiey have not all our opinions, and believe not
every thing necessary which we overvalue, is im-
pious and schismatical ; it infers tyranny on one
part, and persuades and tempts to uncharitableness
and animosities on both ; it dissolves societies, and
is an enemy to peace ; it busies men in impertinent
vvranglings, and by names of men and titles of

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 409

factions it consigns the interested parties to act
their differences to the height, and makes them
neglect those advantages which piety and a good
life bring to the reputation of Christian religion
and societies.

And therefore Vincentius Lirinensis, and indeed
the whole church, accounted the Donatists heretics
upon this very ground, because they did imperi-
ously deny their communion to all that were not
of their persuasion ; whereas the authors of that
opinion for which they first did separate and make
a sect, because they did not break the church's
peace, nor magisterially prescribe to others, were
in that disagreeing and error accounted Catholics.
*' Division and disunion makes you heretics, peace
and unity make Catholics,"-^ said St. Austin ; and
to this sense is that of St. Paul : " If I had all faith
and not charity I am nothing."' He who upon con-
fidence of liis true belief denies a charitable com-
munion to his brother, loses tlie reward of both.
And if pope Victor had been as charitable to the
Asiatics as pope Anicetus and St. Polycarp were
to each other in the same disagreeing concerning
Easter,Victor had not been TrKuK^iKanpov y.^^^Ti^uuino?,
so bitterly reproved and condemned as he was for
the uncharitable managing of his disagreeing, by
Polycrates and Irenasus.t True faith, which leads
to charity, leads on to that which unites wills and
affections, not opinions-!

Upon these or the like considerations the emperor
Zeno published his tfoniMv, in which he made the

* "Divisid enim et disunio facit vos haereticos, pax et
unitas faciunt Catholicos."

t Euseb. lib. v. c. 25, 26.

X "Concordia enim qua est charitatis eifectus est unio
voluntatum non opinionum." — Aquin.22 ae. q. 37, a. 1.
35

410 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

Nicene creed to be the medium of Catholic com-
munion ; and althougli he lived after the council
of Chalcedon, yet he made not the decrees of that
council an instrument of its restraint and limit, as
preferring the peace of Christendom and the union
of charity far before a forced or pretended unity of
persuasion, which never was or ever will be real
and substantial ; and although it were very conve-
nient if it could be had, yet it is therefore not ne-
cessary because it is impossible ; and if men please,
whatever advantages to the public would be conse-
quent to it, may be supplied by a charitable com-
pliance and mutual permission of opinion, and the
offices of a brotherly affection prescribed us by the
laws of Christianity; and we have seen it, that all
sects of Christians, when they have an end to be
served upon a third, have permitted that liberty to
a second which we now contend for, and which they
formerly denied, but now grant, that by joining
hands they might be stronger to destroy the third.
The Arians and Meletians joined against the
Catholics ; the Catholics and Novatians joined
against the Arians. Now, if men would do that
for charity which they do for interest, it were hand-
somer and more ingenuous ; for that they do permit
each other's disagreeings for their own interest's
sake, convinces them of the lawfulness of the
thing, or else the unlawfulness of their own pro-
ceedings ; and therefore it were better they would
serve the ends of charity than of faction ; for then
that good end would hallow the proceeding, and
make it both more prudent and most pious, while
it serves the design of religious purposes.

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 411

SECTION XXII.

That -particular Men may communicate with
Churches of different Persuasions, and how far
they may do it.

As for the duty of particular men in the question
of communicating with churches of different per-
suasions, it is to be regulated according to the laws
of those churches ; for if they require no impiety or
any thing unlawful as the condition of their com-
munion, then they communicate with them as they
are servants of Christ, as disciples of his doctrine,
and subjects to his laws ; and the particular distin-
guishing doctrine of his sect hath no influence or
communication with him who, from another sect, is
willing to communicate with all the servants of
their common Lord : for since no church of one
name is infallible, a wise man may have either the
misfortune, or a reason, to believe of every one in
particular that she errs in some article or other ;
either he cannot communicate with any, or else
he may communicate with all that do not make a
sin or the profession of an error to be the con-
dition of their communion. And therefore, as
every particular church is bound to tolerate dis-
agreeing persons, in the senses and for the reasons
above explicated, so every particular person is
bound to tolerate her ; that is, not to refuse her
communion when he may have it upon innocent
conditions. For what is it to me if the Greek
church denies procession of the third person from

412 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

the second, so she will give me the right hand of
fellowship (though I affirm it), therefore because
I profess the religion of Jesus Christ, and retain all
matters of faith and necessity ? But this thing
will scarce be reduced to practice, for few churches
that have framed bodies of confession and articles
will endure any person that is not of the same con-
fession; which is a plain demonstration that such
bodies of confession and articles do much hurt, by
becoming instruments of separating and dividing
communions, and making unnecessary or uncertain
propositions a certain means of schism and dis-
union. But then men would do well to consider
whether or no such proceedings do not derive the
guilt of schism upon them who least think it ; and
whether of the two is the schismatic, he that makes
unnecessary and (supposing the state of things)
inconvenient impositions, or he that disobeys them
because he cannot, without doing violence to his
conscience, believe them : he that parts communion
because without sin he could not entertain it, or
they that have made it necessary for him to sepa-
rate, by requiring such conditions which to man
are simply necessary, and to his particular are
either sinful or impossible.

The sum of all is this, there is no security in any
thing or to any person, but in tlie pious and hearty
endeavors of a good life; — and neither sin nor
error does impede it from producing its propor-
tionate and intended effect; because it is a direct
deletery to sin, and an excuse to errors, by making
them innocent, and therefore harmless. And, in-
deed, this is the intendment and design of faith ;
for (that we may join both ends of this discourse
together) therefore certain articles are prescribed
to us, and propounded to our understanding, that

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIXG. 413

SO we might be supplied vritli instructions, ^vith
motives and engagements to incline and determine
our wills to the obedience of Christ. So that obe-
dience is just so consequent to faith, as the acts
of will are to the dictates of the understanding.
Faith, therefore, being in order to obedience, and
so far excellent as itself is a part of obedience or
the promoter of it, or an engagement to it, it is
evident that if obedience and a good life be secured
upon the most reasonable and proper grounds of
Christianity — that is, upon tlie apostles' creed —
then faith also is secured. Since whatsoever is
beside the duties, the order of a good life cannot
be a part of faitli, because upon faith a good life is
built; all other articles, by not being necessary,
are no otherwise to be required but as they are to
be obtained and found out — that is, morally, and
fallibly, and humanly: it is fit all truths be pro-
moted fairly and properly, and yet but f3W articles
prescribed magisterially, nor framed into symbols
and bodies of confession; least of all, after such
composures, should men proceed so furiously as to
say all disagreeing, after such declarations, to be
damnable for the future and capital for the present.
But this very thing is reason enough to make men
more limited in their proscriptions, because it is
more charitable in such suppositions to do so.

But in the thing itself, because few kinds of
errors are damnable, it is reasonable as few should
be capital ; and because every thing that is damn-
able in itself, and before God's judgment-seat, is
not discernible before men (and questions dis-
putable are of this condition), it is also very rea-
sonable that fewer be capital than what are damn-
able, and that such questions should be permitted
to men to believe, because they must be left to

414 THE SACRED CLASSICS.

God to judge. It concerns all persons to see that
thej do their best to find out truth, and if they do,
it is certain that let the error be never so damnable,
they shall Escape the error or the misery of being
damned for it. And if God will not be angry at men
for being invincibly deceived, why should men be
angry one at another ? For he that is most dis-
pleased at another man's error, may also be tempted
in his own will, and as much deceived in his un-
derstanding ; for if he may fail in what he can
choose, he may also fail in wh«it he cannot choose ;
his understanding is no more secured than his will,
nor his faith more than his obedience. It is his own
fault if he offends God in either ; but whatsoever
is not to be avoided, as errors which are incident
oftentimes even to the best and most inquisitive
of men, are not oflences against God, and therefore
not to be punished or restrained by men. But all
such opinions in which the public interests of the
commonwealth, and the foundation of faith, and a
good life are not concerned, are to be permitted
freely : " Let every one be fully persuaded in his
own mind," was the doctrine of St. Paul, and that
is argument and conclusion too ; and they were ex-
cellent words which St. Ambrose said in attestation
of this great truth : — " The civil authority has no
right to interdict the liberty of speakings nor the
sacerdotal to prevent speaking what you think. "^'
I end with a story which I find in the Jews'
books : — When Abraham sat at his tent door,
according to his custom, waiting to entertain
strangers, he espied an old man stooping and
leaning on his staff, weary with age and travel,

* "Nee imperiale est iibertatem dicendi negare, nee sacer-
dotale quod sentias non dicere."

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 415

coming towards him, who was an hundred years
of age ; he received him kindly, washed his feet,
provided supper, and caused him to sit down ; but
observing that the old man eat and prayed not,
nor begged for a blessing on his meat, asked him
why he did not worship the God of heaven ? The
old man told him that he worshiped the fire only,
and acknowledged no other god ; at which answer
Abraham grew so zealously angry, that he thrust
the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all
the evils of the night and an unguarded condition.
When the old man was gone, God called to Abra-
ham,, and asked him where the stranger was? he
replied, I thrust him away because he did not wor-
ship thee. God answered him, I have suffered him
these hundred years, although he dishonored me,
and couldst thou not endure him one night, when
he gav^thee no trouble ? Upon this, saith the story,
AlDyaham fetched him back aguin, and gave him
hdgpitable entertainment, and wise instruction : —
•" .Go thou and do likewise," and thy charity will
be rewarded by the God of Abraham.

THE E-ND.

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRAR^^
REFERENCE DEPARTMENT

This book Is under no circumstances to be
taken from the Building

■

form 410

J i^£.\J

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Full text of "A discourse of the liberty of prophesying; showing the unreasonableness of prescribing to other men's faith; and the eniquity of persecuting differing opinions"

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